03.02.09

The Kremlin has recently published “The Russian Federation’s 2009 Legislation Plan.” The document had been discussed on November 17, 2008 during a session of the presidium and was sent for substantial revisions. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed the decree on December 31, 2008. After all the revisions the plan was double in size – from 37 bills to 67. 

The increase was mostly due to the inclusion of the anti-recessionary measures that had been discussed during November and December of last year. Such an increase is almost catastrophic for the government: more than a third of the bills are marked by notes that read “the details of the project have yet to be worked out.” Anonymous experts in the Kremlin have practically admitted that a third of the plan is not feasible as the indicated bills may “sink” at an early stage. Usually, preparing a bill from scratch takes several years.

An exception may be the budgetary bill and annual legislative acts that accompany it. The Ministry of Public Health is lead by Tatyana Golikova, who's exceptional lobbying skills were recognized in 2008. But it will not be easy to pass legislation to carry out the needed reforms to the Compulsory Health Insurance Program and the pension system under crisis conditions. Tatyana Golikova is schedualled to begin presenting her package of legislation to the government starting in May and finish in August
The Kremlin is planning, for now, to focus primarily on the anti-recessionary measures that are no longer disputed in the ministries. These include bills concerning increasing the stability and liquidity of the banking system and financial market. It also includes some tax remission measures. For example, legislative changes are planed to stimulate the hydrocarbon refining industry.

The laws were conceptualized at the end of 2008 and the responsibility for their development was then assigned to the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Service For Financial Markets. The Kremlin believes that debate on the long-awaited bills will be minimal. The weak link may prove to be the Ministry of Economics. In February, the department chair, Elvira Nabiullina, is to present amendments to the laws “On State Purchases” and “On Protecting Competition,” which have been in development only since the end of 2008.

The most controversial bills are scheduled for consideration at the end of 2009. Therefore, in November, the government will discuss creating an international financial center and transforming the ruble into a regional reserve currency. Whether the Central Bank will still have sufficient reserve funds by that time is not clear, but a bill “On a National Payment System” is included in the plan. Certain bills that have been debated for several years without result have been removed from the schedule. For example, the bill “On Trade” which the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Industry and Energy have been discussing since 2006, is not included in the schedule.

The Kremlin announced that Vladimir Putin intends to ensure the timely advancement of the scheduled bills by using innovative means. The Prime Minister issued a decree that disallows any department to spend more than 30 days considering or debating any document. The effectiveness of this measure can only be judged by the performance results of this year’s legislative plan. According to experts, it’s been difficult to fulfill even 50 percent of what was included in previous legislative plans.

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