S. Shorshorov: Draft Constitutional Act is 99% ready

A regular session of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Legislation and Regulations has been held in Minsk. Interim results of its work were commented upon by the committee chairman, S. Shorshorov: “It was a routine working session of the Committee, in general all the issues related to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia; some routine problems were discussed, therefore it’s difficult to report any results. The results will be announced at the annual general meeting which is scheduled for the end of the year”.

A regular session of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Legislation and Regulations has been held in Minsk. Interim results of its work were commented upon by the committee chairman, S. Shorshorov: “It was a routine working session of the Committee, in general all the issues related to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia; some routine problems were discussed, therefore it’s difficult to report any results. The results will be announced at the annual general meeting which is scheduled for the end of the year”.

Implementation of proposals, which were brought forward by the Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Legislation and Regulations, aiming to enhance the development and approval of normative legal acts of the Union State provoked a heated discussion among the participants of the meeting. “This issue has been examined for a year and a half already. It is difficult to settle due to the fact that today there is the Union State, but there is neither Constitution nor the Constitutional Act, and therefore some of the questions are avoided or are in limbo,” said S. Shorshorov. “Some resolutions are outside the scope of law and it is difficult to make them come within the legislation due to the lack of the Constitution or the Constitutional Act. Were there the Constitutional Act, everything would be much easier. Were there the courts, all tasks would be carried out, but perhaps it can’t done that quickly, so the Committee on Legislation and Regulations takes a lot of issues on itself, clears the decisions through so as to somehow legitimize this or that activity of the Parliamentary Assembly,” he added.

At the same time S. Shorshorov stressed that no thorny issues were brought up at the meeting. All questions were routine: payment of assignment allowance, transport maintenance, housing for the secretariat employees. “Usual problems, but they must fall within the legislative framework, which should cover all small details, even the use of a chair and a table,” said chairman of the Committee. “There are some issues that must be harmonized, which cannot be in the air. When the Chamber of Accounts checks our year’s work, they always write comments which are not pleasant to read. Year in, year out, we can’t bring all this to its logical end”.

“The Parliamentary Assembly should have more of those powers which Russia's parliament or the parliament of Belarus possess,” S. Shorshorov explained the essence of the problems facing the Committee. It all boils down to the fact that to this day the Constitutional Act of the Union State doesn’t exist.

However, according to S. Shorshorov, the Constitutional Act is 99% ready. Its draft has been considered, and soon the issue should be resolved. “The draft has existed for about a year and a half, but the work is rather complicated as the legislations of the two states are completely different. It is difficult to make them form a single whole. Well, for a start, half of the laws need to be amended which is a big and complicated piece of work,” he summarized.