Preparations for meetings of Belarusian People’s Congress launched

The Belarusian People’s Congress will convene for the next session in April — the President of Belarus, Chairman of the Belarusian People’s Congress Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting of the Presidium of the Belarusian People’s Congress on February 11th

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“The beginning of this year was very active in our country in terms of social and political events. Following the election campaign, the Belarusian People’s Congress will gather for the next session in April. Today’s meeting of the Presidium will give a start to the preparations for this most important state event,” the Head of State said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the Belarusian People’s Congress will convene for the second time in its new constitutional status. All in all, the Congress has had a total of seven editions. The Constitution assigns the Belarusian People’s Congress a strategic role in comprehensive protection of Belarus’ sovereignty.

“The significant powers of this body of people’s power, which ensures broad involvement of our citizens in the processes of the country’s development, are eloquently demonstrated by the decisions it adopts: five-year plans for social and economic development, the National Security Concept, the Military Doctrine and others,” the President said.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, this fully applies to the issues to be discussed at the upcoming Belarusian People’s Congress. One of the main items is the President’s annual Address to the Belarusian people and the Parliament. “The Address is a report to the people. It is about the tasks for the future and answers to the most vital topical issues,” he said. “The country has entered the five-year period of quality. The Year of Improvement has been launched. The last year of the five-year plan [2021-2025] is coming to an end. This predetermines the complexity of the tasks that we are facing.”
The next item is related to the new constitutional control powers of the Belarusian People’s Congress. For the first time, the delegates will hear the Prime Minister’s report on the implementation of the country’s social and economic development programmes. “In his speech, the Head of Government will report on the work done and outline the strategy of the social and economic development programme for the coming five years,” the Belarusian leader said. The Belarusian People’s Congress will also have to make a number of personnel decisions for the first time.
According to the procedure, the President submits candidates for judges of the supreme courts to the Presidium for approval. “You have the list. The chairmen of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts will introduce these people. If you support them, the issue of their election will be included in the agenda of the Congress,” the Head of State said.
Another topic is the organisational structure and commissions of the Belarusian People’s Congress. Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that this issue has been a stumbling block so far. ”You remember the debates at the last meeting of the Presidium. I instructed the Presidium and the Head of the President Administration to further study these issues. I hope we will consider them and make a decision,” he said.
The Belarusian leader emphasised that the items are serious, and therefore one cannot make mistakes when making decisions. 

“The Belarusian People’s Congress should occupy its niche in the state and not interfere with the competences of other state bodies. We must avoid all kinds of new meetings, correspondence, formalism. Most importantly, we must avoid pitting one government body against another or pitting all of them against the Belarusian People’s Congress. 

We, as pioneers, are blazing a trail forming the structure for years to come. The productivity and authority of the Congress itself, as well as of other government bodies, largely depends on this decision,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. ”If we want to have an effective state, we should begin with the optimisation of governance processes, total de-bureaucratisation and ironclad executive discipline. Ultimately, the trust of the people depends on this. We must deliver on everything that we promised people together with you during the election campaign. And we will do it,” the Head of State summarised. 

Organisational structure of Belarusian People’s Congress determined

How will the Belarusian People’s Congress (BPC) proceed in April, what will the delegates discuss, and when will the five-year programme be adopted? Aleksandr Kosinets, Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian People’s Congress, has shared details with journalists.

What will organisational structure of BPC look like? 
Following the meeting, the organisational structure of the Belarusian People’s Congress has been adopted. The total number of participants is 1,189, distributed across ten delegations: from the legislative, judicial, and executive branches, as well as seven delegations from the regions. The average size of each delegation is around 70 people, with the largest being from Minsk, comprising 192 individuals.
“Thus, the management and organisation system has been established: the President, Chairman of the Belarusian People’s Congress — his deputy — the Presidium — the Secretariat form one level of the hierarchy. Another level of the hierarchy, led by the heads of the delegations, includes the leaders of Parliament, the judiciary, the Prime Minister, and the chairpersons of regional executive committees. The organisational structure is formalised and is beginning its activities. It possesses very high operational efficiency, a sufficiently high degree of control, effectiveness, and discipline,” Aleksandr Kosinets explained. He also added that the Head of State tasked the members of the BPC Presidium to visit the regions and hold meetings with the delegations.

What is on agenda for second meeting of 7th BPC?  
The agenda for the second meeting of the 7th Belarusian People’s Congress has also been approved at a meeting of the BPC Presidium. This large-scale event will take place over two days in April. The Deputy Chairman of the BPC has revealed important details, “The first day will feature the Address from the President of Belarus, outlining all directions for socio-economic development, international policy, our geopolitical situation, issues related to addressing existing problems, successes, shortcomings, and ultimately how we will develop the state in the coming years. On the second day, there will be a report from the Prime Minister on the socio-economic development of our state for the years 2021 to 2024.”   
Moreover, Aleksandr Kosinets added that a package of documents with questions for the Prime Minister from the delegates of the BPC is currently being prepared, “These questions will be systematised and submitted to the Government so that, ultimately, at the BPC meeting, we can receive answers from the Prime Minister regarding the socio-economic development of our state.”   

When will programme for next five-year plan be adopted?  
As for the socio-economic development programme for the next five-year period, 2026 to 2030, it is planned to be adopted in 2026. According to Aleksandr Kosinets, it will first be reviewed by the BPC Presidium and then presented at the third session of the 7th BPC.

One of the agenda items at the meeting of the BPC Presidium was the issue of establishing permanent commissions within the BPC 

Following the first meeting of the BPC Presidium in November last year, this question remained a sticking point. A discussion on the topic unfolded on February 11th, as reported by Valery Mitskevich, Head of BPC Secretariat, “The debate revolved around this issue. The BPC is a new constitutional body, and it is important that it does not interfere with the functioning of already established structures, to avoid any overlap in competencies. Such concerns were expressed, and accordingly, the members of the Presidium were very cautious in voicing their opinions and voting. A discussion ensued, with arguments both for and against. Ultimately, the decision to create permanent commissions was not adopted.” 
At the same time, Valery Mitskevich does not rule out the emergence of similar structural units in the future. According to him, in the process of preparing to review the five-year programme, it may be necessary to establish certain structures (temporary or permanent) to enable the BPC delegates to familiarise themselves with the documents in a timely manner and subsequently make informed decisions regarding them.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by