Boris Gryzlov: “Government hour” to be introduced in the Parliamentary Assembly

Changes introduced into the Regulations of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly will favour the increase in control functions of the Union Parliament, said Boris Gryzlov.

Changes introduced into the Regulations of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly will favour the increase in control functions of the Union Parliament, said Boris Gryzlov.

37^th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia was held in Minsk on Friday. The parliamentarians considered the report of the Council of Ministers of the Union State on budget execution in 2008, as well as put forward a number of suggestions on making additions to the Regulations of the Parliamentary Assembly.

“As a result of these changes the Parliamentary Assembly will soon adopt a habit of holding a “government hour”,” said Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia Boris Gryzlov. According to him, “it will help strengthen supervisory functions of the Assembly”.

Besides that B.Gryzlov stressed the importance of examining at the 37^th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia the report of the Union State Council of Ministers on execution of the union budget in 2008. The opinion letter on the report of the Union Council of Ministers prepared by the parliamentarians for the Supreme State Council has recommended approving the report reviewed.

The parliamentarians advised the State Council to charge the Council of Ministers with taking measures to remove shortcomings in budgeting process. The deputies drew attention to the fact that budget-2008 was drawn at the level of 86%, which, in their opinion, is the evidence of poor budget discipline.

During the session the parliamentarians also approved the changes in composition of the committees as well as elected a Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly.