MINSK, 16 March (BelTA) - The constitutional commission will work in a transparent and open manner and will hold meetings with citizens, labor groups, have discussions at dialogue platforms and submit the final draft of the new Constitution to public discussion, Chairman of the Minsk City Council of Deputies Andrei Bugrov, a member of the Constitutional Commission, told the media in Minsk on 16 March, BelTA has learned.
“The commission has 36 members who are specialists in different fields. It is clear that everyone has their own views on approaches to work. So now it is important for us to develop the strategy itself. We got down to work yesterday and discussed points of the overall strategy. The head of state used to draft a new Constitution openly and discuss it with the Belarusian society. We are planning to have the draft at the end of the summer and then take two to three months to discuss it in a calm manner, without haste, to make sure people study it closely, submit corrections if needed and make appropriate changes,” Andrei Bugrov noted.
He stressed that work on certain sections will involve the commission members with certain expertise (MPs are well-versed in local government issues, lawyers - constitutional order), but in general the commission intends to work together. Each section will be discussed to determine a common position. For this purpose, face-to-face meetings will be held at least once a month (or at other intervals, depending on how the chairperson determines). Discussions and consultations can be held on a working basis outside of the commission as well.
“The work will be carried out almost on a daily basis. We will continue meetings with the population, employees of enterprises, and also dialogue platforms in order to get feedback. In general, we have received enough proposals already,” Andrei Bugrov said. He added that during the meetings with the population, the commission members will be talking about the proposals taken into consideration. The entire draft is expected to be presented for public discussion by September.
“The task for now is to study the positive experience we have. The current Constitution should make the basis for the new document. We also need to study the international experience of the basic law, take into account the changes in society, its development. It is necessary to look through sociological studies as well. In short, there is a lot of work ahead,” Andrei Bugrov said.
