Brest City Council reluctant to inform the population on budget issues

This follows from the answer received by the head of the Brest regional organization of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party "Hramada" Ihar Maslouski. In his address he proposed the officials to upload to the website of the executive committee the city budge and the reports about its implementation. He pointed at the fact that the decisions of the local authorities concerning the budget belonged to public information, but were accessible only through paid legal resources, such as "Etalon" or "Consultant-Plus". Mr. Maslouski believes that by providing only paid access to such information contradicts the aims of the state provided it is interested in increasing the public awareness of the laws. Moreover, he proposed to familiarize the citizens with draft budgets and put them to public discussion prior to their adoption. In his answer the head of the Brest City Council Henadz Masko stated that the issuance of such documents for public discussion was not provided for by any legal acts and that the city budget for 2013 was currently under a juridical examination and would be published in the "Brestsky Vestnik" newspaper only after its inclusion in the national register of legal acts, as it used to be done before. Ihar Maslouski objects that it is impossible to find complete information about the budget in this newspaper. "We asked to place on the website the draft budget for discussion, as far as it is not prohibited by any legal acts. According to the Constitution, the people of Belarus is the only source of all authority. Doesn't it have the right to get acquainted with the budget in a advance and make proposals to members of the council? The same concerns the already adopted budget. Why can't it be placed at the website of the city executive committee, only in the "Brestsky Vestnik" newspaper?" inquires Ihar Maslouski.