Changes guided by the Constitution

In his talk to Alfa Radio, a member of the Constitutional Commission, political analyst Aleksandr Shpakovsky, shared his view on the necessity of changes, saying, “For me – as a member of the Constitutional Commission, a qualified lawyer and a political strategist, it’s absolutely clear that they are necessary since a lack of changes means stagnation. We should not simply keep up with the times but be ahead of them, while developing the normative legal acts able to give a new impetus to the development of our economy, culture, science, education, the political process and so on – for years to come. Meanwhile, in a civilised state, changes should be guided exclusively by the Constitution.”

According to the official, the Constitutional Commission is actively addressed by Belarusians with proposals. At the same time, those who were advocating changes, propose no constructive approach. “The nature of their claims to the current government is mostly emotional rather than rational,” stressed Mr. Shpakovsky, adding, “We receive many proposals from concerned citizens. Some of them are naïve and some relate not to the Constitutional Commission’s sphere of regulation but, for example, the pension legislation. However, I’m very grateful to all these socially minded people. We have a common goal and everyone – who is contributing their view or information – matters. Transformations can be achieved only in the constitutional field and I’d like to once again repeat: we are reforming the Constitution not to please the opposition but to meet the request of the time.”

In the end of his talk, Mr. Shpakovsky concluded, “No matter how much someone likes it or not, it’s absolutely obvious that Belarus is entering an era of the transit of power. Our task is to ensure that this transit takes place constitutionally, peacefully and in accordance with the national interests of Belarus – not through a sort of street performances of exalted people influenced by destructive Telegram channels.”