Lukashenko meets with Council of Republic speaker

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with Chairperson of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly Natalya Kochanova, during which a range of topics was discussed, a BELTA correspondent reports.

One of the issues raised by the head of state was the legislative process, not in itself, but its peculiarities over the last period, during the work of the upper house of parliament of the current convocation, which, incidentally, will soon conclude. "Perhaps there are some shortcomings, peculiarities that we should take into account after the elections in the future," Alexander Lukashenko asked.

The second topic for discussion was the activities of the expert council, which was established under the Council of the Republic for a comprehensive review of draft key regulatory legal acts and assessment of the consequences of their adoption. The discussion also covered the expert advisory council, which reviews topical aspects of legislative development and develops proposals for its further improvement.

The head of state inquired about the progress of work of both these structures, their positive and, possibly, negative experiences: "What is bad here? Has this expert council become a appendage of some bureaucratic (state body. - Ed. BELTA) - governmental, or another?"

"We agreed that this would be a serious filter of experts on documents submitted for the President's consideration. This is very important - not to unbalance the system. Therefore, I thought that this council would not be superfluous. And there should be no excessive bureaucracy there either. This must not be allowed under any circumstances," Alexander Lukashenko warned.

The meeting also discussed the work of the Council of the Republic with local councils of deputies. "We agreed that the Council of the Republic would take local councils under its patronage. This is generally your area of responsibility," said the head of state. "Because no one, the Council of the Republic, (no one. - Ed. BELTA) will do this job better than you. How are things here? What needs to be done in the future?" the President asked.

"A very hot fourth topic is elections," the head of state continued. "I would ask you, first of all, the Presidential Administration, and if necessary, the parliament (lower house) to get involved in conducting these elections. Especially since you are the authorized representative for Minsk."

"Minsk has always had a certain peculiarity. How are things here?" - asked Alexander Lukashenko. He recalled that for a long time there had been talk about the need to assess the readiness of all authorities to conduct the upcoming elections and, if necessary, to assist the Central Election Commission. "We need to help the CEC. Because we do not have such established bureaucratic, administrative systems that would deal with elections, except for the Central Election Commission. The rest, so to speak, are on a voluntary basis," the head of state explained. - Therefore, this issue must be kept under control, you have experience."

Alexander Lukashenko paid special attention to the topic of working with people. According to the Council of the Republic, during the session period, senators held over 200 direct telephone lines, 36 personal receptions of citizens, about half of which were on-site, and considered about 6,000 appeals.

"I can only thank all the senators for the fact that, unlike any other structure, you have taken this issue (organizing work with citizens' appeals. - BELTA note) seriously. People highly value this, people want to see the authorities, people want to talk to representatives of the authorities. You have done this well," the Belarusian leader emphasized.

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