Political Analyst: Authorities Wanted To Pull A Penny From ‘Parasites’, But Went Down Same Road

People are very irritated when someone is trying to get into their pocket.

The term for the 100% payment for heating and gas for people not employed in the economy was postponed from October 1 of this year to May 1 of the next year. Officially - due to the need to refine information resources. Is this the only reason for such indulgence of the authorities? Asks intex-press.by.

People who are not employed in the economy (we are talking about homeowners and tenants) should have started paying for heating and gas (if it is used for heating) at 100% tariffs since October 1, 2019. But the deadline was postponed until next year, when the heating season will already be over.

According to Andrei Labovich, the First Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Belarus, such a decision was made in order to prevent unjustified cases of accrual of increased fees for these services to citizens. According to him, the information for forming a base of citizens not employed in the economy comes from almost 50 sources. In this regard, it became necessary to carry out additional measures to update the information contained in departmental information resources.

“Going down the same road again”

According to political analyst Aliaksandr Klaskouski, implementing a “parasitic” decree is technically really very difficult. The interlocutor believes that Decree #1, like its predecessor, the infamous Decree #3, is vicious in its essence.

- The authorities wanted to get a penny from the parasites, but in order to figure out who the parasite is, who goes to work abroad, and who finds themselves in a difficult life situation, you need to keep a whole staff of officials or distract other officials from the main work, loading them with silly and ineffective work, - argues Klaskouski.

In his opinion, it was high time for the authorities to admit their mistake and repeal this decree. But the leadership of the country didn’t do this, because it does not like to admit that it was wrong, and thereby “creates new problems for themselves,” the source said.

- The authorities go down the same road again and again - they rewrite the document, create new versions of it, postpone the deadline. They understand that people with an unenviable financial situation are very irritated when they get into their pocket,” the expert argues.

On the eve of two “elections”

However, the main factor in postponing the next punishment for people not employed in the economy appears to be of political nature, Klaskouski believes.

“There is a “parliamentary campaign” ahead of the “presidential election”, and the authorities are trying not to bother, not to annoy people in vain,” he says.

In his opinion, on the eve of two election campaigns, the country's leadership does not feel strong in terms of improving the well-being of people, therefore, it is trying to show sensitivity not only to “parasites”, but to all Belarusians as a whole.

- The authorities are flirting with people. For example, in Minsk, where voters are especially critical, this year they turned on the heating very early. Lukashenka asks officials to be attentive to the population, took the side of opponents of the battery plant in Brest. Now they decided to pardon the “parasites,” says Klaskouski.

Important to note, since the beginning of this year, people who are not employed in the economy and who are owners or tenants of housing already pay one hundred percent tariffs for water heating. At first they wanted to introduce the innovation since January 1, but then the deadlines were postponed till February 1.