President has instructed to organise a large-scale revision of the legislation

belta

At the beginning of the meeting, the President recalled that communication in such a format took place quite a long time ago (more than six years ago). At that time, the key topic of conversation was the preparation of amendments to the Constitution. Extensive work was carried out to make the amended version of the Basic Law, and the judges of the Constitutional Court also made their contribution to that.

The first of them concerned the new constitutional function of the court — the interpretation of the Basic Law. According to the President, this requires the initiative of competent state bodies — the Presidium of the Belarusian People’s Congress, the houses of Parliament, the Supreme Court, the Government. These bodies also have the right to address the issue of compliance of normative legal acts with the Constitution.
The second question outlined by the Head of State was related to another important innovation in the Basic Law — the institution of constitutional complaint. “This implies the initiative of the court itself. Citizens have the opportunity to appeal to the Constitutional Court not only through authorised state bodies but also personally,” the Head of State explained.
The third aspect discussed referred to the interaction of courts. After all, courts of general jurisdiction have the right to appeal to the Constitutional Court. When considering a particular case, the judge who questions the constitutionality of the act applied in the case can raise the subject of checking it for compliance with the Constitution.
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that the supreme body of constitutional control should not be an outside observer of the processes taking place in society and at the same time should not position itself as something exceptional in the structure of the state. In this regard, the President cited the example of the United States, which operates on the principle of ‘America first’ and is ready to neglect anything for the sake of its interests.

belta

“You can see how the current government in the United States acts and what is behind their ‘democracy’,” the Head of State noted. “You see how such a powerful country, which does not really need to demonstrate its fervor, protects its state interests. They do not care about the whole world, let alone a single country.”  
The President reminded that probably no state had actually done as much as Belarus to ensure the independence of its courts. “We must be united more than ever in order to stand up and preserve our state,” the Belarusian leader urged. “The Constitutional Court cannot be isolated. It is necessary to build constructive co-operation with other government agencies.”
The Head of State noted that 175,000 acts are currently in force in Belarus. Some of them are difficult to read and perceive, and many norms are repeated. Aleksandr Lukashenko drew attention to the fact that when making significant adjustments, the regulatory legal act should be re-issued in an updated, relevant version.
In order to tackle the existing problems, Aleksandr Lukashenko has instructed to conduct a large-scale revision of the legislation, with the Presidential Administration in charge of organising the process. 

Chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus Piotr Miklashevich reported on how constitutional legality is being strengthened in the country.
As highlighted by Piotr Miklashevich, the effectiveness of constitutional control as a guarantee of ensuring constitutional legality and constitutional order is due to the following factors:  
1. There has been completed the stage of mandatory preliminary constitutional control of laws adopted by Parliament before signing by the President, which had a positive impact on strengthening constitutional legality. The Constitutional Court has reviewed 698 laws, and more than 300 legal positions were taken into account by the legislator and law enforcement officers in their activities. In accordance with the updated Constitution, preliminary control of the constitutionality of laws has been established only on the proposals of the President.
2. The Constitutional Court is by its nature a passive body — in other words, it does not have the right to initiate constitutional proceedings on its own initiative. The initiation of constitutional control is carried out by other specially authorised state bodies and citizens. “If we see a situation where it is necessary, we will suggest that the authorised state bodies make an appropriate proposal,” emphasised the Chairman of the Constitutional Court.
3. Ensuring the implementation of the constitutional complaint related to the protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms. The Constitution and the Law on Constitutional Proceedings envisage the admissibility conditions for a constitutional complaint. The constitutionality of the law applied in a particular court case after October 1st, 2023 and after the exhaustion of all judicial remedies in courts of general jurisdiction (first instance, appellate, constitutional and supervisory) is checked.
4. Constitutional legal proceedings consist of the stages for initiation of constitutional control, consideration of cases, and execution of decisions of the Constitutional Court. “Some countries experience problems with the consideration of cases due to the workload of their constitutional courts. We do not have such problems at the moment,” Piotr Miklashevich assured.

* *  *

“Naturally, we have supported this organisation and will continue to support it. Belarus is one of the founding countries of the United Nations. We see the drawbacks, but these are not the flaws of Mr. Guterres [UN Secretary-General António Guterres] or the organisation itself. These are our own shortcomings, as the UN is a collective body where each country holds its own voice and opinion. Everyone has the right to vote one way or another, to speak out one way or another. We understand this perfectly well, and we will work to make the UN more effective,” the Head of State emphasised.

The Head of State also underscored that all Belarusian human initiatives put forward at the UN site were not becoming less important for the global community. “On the contrary, they are very significant. We will stick to them,” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked.
The Belarusian leader asked Valentin Rybakov to report on the situation in the United States and the United Nations. “What efforts do we need to make in some areas in order for our voice to be more compelling in the UN?” the President inquired.
Valentin Rybakov highlighted that despite the great importance of Belarus’ participation in various integration structures on international platforms, the UN is the only universal international organisation where all states of the world are represented. “This is a valuable opportunity for Belarus, which we actively use to convey our position so that the voice of Belarus can be heard on all issues that are of priority to us,” the Permanent Representative to the UN pointed out.
“The meeting is also relevant because recently, as you know, we have met with António Guterres and had an interesting conversation. It was interpreted in different ways by some media, especially on the Internet: as if Guterres made some claims against us. You know perfectly well, being there in New York, that no claims were made against us. Quite the opposite, we received a positive assessment,” the Head of State noted, stressing that the assessments are not the main thing. “We see what is going on, especially at your place of residence. We now assess the world’s ‘democracy’ and the hegemon accordingly. However, these are their questions.”

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by