| The Federation Council feigned disagreement with the government Yesterday the Federation Council adopted the law “On the Federal Budget for 2003”. Moreover, in the words of speaker Sergei Mironov, “stepping on the throat of one’s own song.” As always, the senators felt that the budget infringed on the interests of the regions and socially vulnerable segments of the population. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin tried to convince them otherwise. And although the fate of the document was predetermined even before the meeting (on the sidelines, members of the Federation Council, as if by agreement, repeated to journalists the phrase “We will vote “for” only understanding the political significance of the document”), the senators pretended that they could not be convinced. And they kicked the speaker, the deputy prime minister, and the budget to their heart's content.
As Kudrin assured, the 2003 budget “retained a social orientation,” meaning, apparently, an increase in scholarships for students and salaries for public sector employees, military personnel and scientists. Senators immediately objected that the increase in allocations for social services in the 2003 budget is lower than in the current year's budget. That is, every year, as they assured, more and more should be spent on social items. And why in the surplus budget the amount of child benefits is set at such a humiliatingly low level - 70 rubles, asked Deputy Speaker Andrei Vikharev. The Minister of Finance tried to avoid answering: “We support the child’s home; for the current year we no longer have debts on benefits.” But the senators brought him back to the heart of the matter. “We will not increase the amount of benefits; there is no need to create new unfunded social mandates,” he finally admitted. An increase in benefits is possible only from 2004, the minister said, and only on the condition that the regions manage to pay off their “children’s” debts for 1999-2001.
In the same spirit, he answered the question of Senator Svetlana Orlova, who asked how the restoration of dilapidated housing and the construction of social welfare facilities - schools, hospitals - are financed in the budget. According to Kudrin, although this area is also identified as a priority in the budget, “priorities must be approached more carefully.” That is, the federal center will not waste money on building district clinics, but will build one large medical center for two or three regions.
Then the senators decided to take a closer look and deal with the root cause of the lack of “social” money in the regions. How long will inequality in budgetary provision between regions persist, Vladimir Shumeiko asked an almost rhetorical question. Almost forever, came from Kudrin’s answer. As an economic mechanism, our country will never achieve equal living conditions in different regions, he said. If only for the reason that all territories increase their tax potential in different ways.
And finally, the senators had to give up their main dream - the distribution of income between the center and the regions in a 50:50 ratio. At one time, this dream almost accidentally found its way into the Budget Code, and the financial department has been fighting it for several years. Now Kudrin stated directly: this is an outdated norm. A minority of members of the Federation Council at one time insisted on such a distribution formula, but in reality there can be no equality in the relations of the center with the donor region and the recipient region, he explained.
According to the senators, the budget did not take into account such an important requirement as the restructuring of the regions' debt to the federal budget, and much, much more. And yet, the senators could not help but accept such a budget, they accepted it. So the decorative chamber fulfilled its function. Irina SKLYAROVA |
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