Miasnikovich will be partly deprived of authority

The Belarusian government certainly has a claim on acquiring a status of the most dependent in the world.

On 11 March the changes come into force in the Rules of procedure of the Council of Minsters of the Republic of Belarus, according to which the government loses independence in the most important issues – monetary ones, Narodnaja Vola reports.

From then on all the government’s draft decrees dealing with the issues of crediting, providing state assistance, issue of warrants or compensation of a part of the interest on a loan, will have to be preliminarily agreed with the National Bank. Such a document will not be even considered without a National Bank’s endorsement.

It is well-known that the access to the funds distribution is a defining factor in defining the ranking of the influence of officials. Thus, the head of the National Bank Nedzeja Ermakova goes higher in the ranking and the Prime Minister Mikhail Miasnikovich goes down. And he goes down a lot, since he will not be able to independently deal even with such a trifle as the issues of foreign business trips. According to the new Rules of procedure, draft projects of the decrees on foreign business trips must also have additional endorsements. In particular, they must be endorsed by the Ministry of Justice.

If we remember that the head of the government cannot do much independently without having to get an approval, then the pure formal character of the position becomes obvious. The Prime Minister can only independently award someone an Honorary Diploma, make a decision on the installation of a memorial plague and trivia of this kind.