The Promo-LEX Association notes that Parliament set an anti-record at the plenary session on February 15. The sitting’s agenda was changed in a proportion of 766%, which is something extraordinary in the work of the current legislature. The agenda was completed with 21 items, which is by seven times higher than the initial number of bills. According to the Association’s experts, such a high number of changes seriously affects the transparency and predictability of the legislative process, IPN reports.
At the sitting, the parliamentary majority rejected again all the proposals formulated by the opposition, including to exercise parliamentary control by questioning ten officials and heads of public authorities in the sitting. According to Promo-LEX, the legislative body however exercised its parliamentary control function by questioning, on the initiative of the parliamentary majority, the minister of agriculture and food industry in connection with farmers’ protests and by examining, with great delay, the National Commission for Financial Market’s report that was to be debated on June 1, 2023.
Promo-LEX noted that 43% of the bills examined at the meeting were passed by violating decision-making transparency. Six bills were voted on without requesting/granting/publishing documents related to the bills, including opinions and appraisals. Some of the documents related to the examined bills were published on the website on the day of the sitting, during the examination of draft laws or even after the vote on them. These included four reports of standing commissions, a bill adjusted for the second reading and the summary of proposals and recommendations. The documents related to draft normative documents must be published long before the Parliament’s sitting so as to ensure transparency and predictability.
