Tiraspol, 16 May. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. A meeting of the Public Chamber has been held in Tiraspol today. Among the key issues on the agenda was the consideration of the draft law «On the foundations of public control in the PMR». In general, chamber members backed the bill but made a number of remarks and suggestions to its authors.
«First, the conceptual apparatus must be clearly defined. We must turn public control, public scrutiny and appropriate mechanisms into support of the existing authorities, to help implement the president's programme and, above all, to help address the issues and challenges — both foreign economic and political — that have emerged along the perimeter [of our country]. Therefore, it is not control for control's sake, but rather control for the sake of constructive endeavour — this is the slogan of the public control bill," said the deputy chair of the Public Chamber, Yury Cheban.
The bill proposes to prescribe how citizens should exercise the right to participate in this form of civic activity. It is suggested that public control can be carried out in the form of public monitoring, public inspection, public scrutiny of draft laws and other legal acts, public hearings and discussions, as well as in other forms.
The subjects of public control, as stipulated in the bill, are such socially important civil society structures as the Public Chamber, public councils and the All-Pridnestrovian Public Forum.
The enhancement of public control over the activities of state bodies is one of the items of President Krasnoselsky's People's Programme.
