AP News, May 23rd, 2007
Lawmakers on Wednesday backed legislation stripping hundreds of thousands of disabled and retired people and students of social benefits and other state payments.
In an unusual move, the 110-seat lower house of parliament passed the bill in its first and second readings, 101-1, sending it on to the upper chamber, where it is also likely to pass and be sent it to President Alexander Lukashenko for his signature.
Analysts said the measure _ which officials hope will save about a third of the country's budget _ was prompted by Russia's sharp rise in oil and natural gas prices this year. Belarus' economy remains largely state-controlled and heavily reliant of cheap Russian energy supplies.
Some 67 percent of Belarus' 10 million people, including pensioners, students, disabled persons, Nazi victims and others, receive benefits and other subsidies for transport, medication and housing utilities.
Lawmakers had initially promised to substitute the benefits with cash payments but no such bill has yet been introduced.
Several dozen students, meanwhile, tried to stage a protest outside parliament, but security forces quickly broke up the protest and detained several participants.
"I will starve because I won't be able to go home to my parents," said Ales Karavaichik, an 18-year-old Minsk university student who regularly travels 190 miles to the town of Gomel to see his parents and load up on food. The law eliminates the 50 percent discount he received on train tickets.
The legislation mirrors that passed in Russia two years ago that stripped benefits for socially vulnerable groups and replaced them with cash payments that many consider meager. The reforms sparked mass protests across Russia.
