MINSK, 29 January (BelTA) – The media space of Belarus and Russia lacks quality analytics regarding amendments to the Constitution; there are a lot of speculations surrounding this topic, Director of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research (BISR) Oleg Makarov said during another meeting of the Expert Community project “Constitutional reform in Russia” in BelTA's press center on 29 January.
The BISR chief stated that the media space is in need of quality information, including critical analysis of the essence of the proposed amendments to the Constitution. Such information would arouse interest. The discourse is dominated by cliches and attempts to guess the raison d'etre of such reforms. “This occurs both in Belarus and Russia. The same happened after the Belarusian head of state suggested amending the Constitution,” Oleg Makarov said.
At the same time, in his view, lawyers and the society in general should not miss out on the opportunity to have a say in amending the country's main law. “This is not very common for our judicial system. It is important now to avoid guessing the reasons and consequences, but to take part in changing the conditions in which the society and the state live. However, instead of taking advantage of such an opportunity, mass media players start speculating on this topic,” Oleg Makarov stated with regret.
He outlined the matters that might be of interest to those involved in amending the Constitution. A lot of time has passed since the Constitution was adopted in Belarus and Russia. New technologies have emerged, the focus on environmental issues has increased; even the language the young generation is speaking has changed. “It is important to discuss the differences between the current state of things and the past. This will determine changes in the normative legal acts,” Oleg Makarov believes.
