Let's overcome and strengthen

Instead of “Strategy 2020”, a strategy to combat the crisis was discussed at the United Russia congress

The 10th Congress of the United Russia party did not bring any political sensations. Its leader, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, did not join the party, did not announce his resignation as prime minister or his desire to become president again. But the head of government, who chaired the congress of the party in power for the first time, made a keynote speech on combating the crisis in the country and promised that the authorities would not allow a repeat of the shocks of 1991 and 1998.

The United Russia party gathered yesterday in Moscow near the Kremlin - in Gostiny Dvor - for its X congress. The main issues on the agenda were the report of the country's Prime Minister, party leader Vladimir Putin, the unification of United Russia with the farmers, personnel changes in the governing bodies and the adoption of amendments to the charter. The party intends to adopt a new version of the program at the next congress.

Head of State Dmitry Medvedev came to the United Russia congress. In his opening remarks, he called United Russia the “ruling party,” noting that this obliges him to a lot. The President praised United Russia for their successful legislative activities. “Thanks to your influence, the State Duma promptly adopts all laws that are important for the country,” the president said. But you shouldn’t stop there. The President emphasized that United Russia should be maximally involved in the work to overcome the negative consequences of the global financial crisis, since this is the “most important task” today.

Mr. Medvedev also recalled his latest proposals, voiced in his address to the Federal Assembly . “The ten political initiatives that I listed in the message are due to the need to adapt state and political institutions to the modern situation and the challenges that the country faces. They are aimed at developing democracy, improving the quality of popular representation in government, increasing the number of participants in the political process and developing political competition,” said Mr. Medvedev.

After the president, the party leader, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, made a keynote speech. He spoke very little about politics. He noted that United Russia “has ensured the continuity and stability of power in Russia.” He stated that United Russia supports President Medvedev’s proposal to improve Russia’s political system, fight corruption, create a personnel reserve and develop the social sphere. But the main part of the half-hour report was devoted to the economy and not so much to the stated topic - “Strategy 2020” , but to plans to combat the economic crisis in the near future.

The speaker said so directly: “Today we have gathered here to decide how we will get out of the crisis!” “No, of course, we cannot fail to respond to the crisis,” the prime minister warned. “But if we do everything correctly, we will overcome the crisis and strengthen the economy.”

Although this time, perhaps for the first time, Mr. Putin did not openly blame America for the crisis, he still made it clear that the Russian government was not to blame for what happened - he compared the crisis to a natural disaster that cannot be prevented. “The crisis that began as a financial one has turned into an economic one before our eyes,” Mr. Putin argued. - It tests the strength of all countries, their ability to protect the welfare of their citizens, the economy, and the national currency. This challenge faces Russia today too.” But the Russian leadership did not waste time, and therefore, according to the party leader, in our country “there are not many risk factors that exist in other countries.”

“What lies ahead for us?” - Vladimir Putin asked the audience and himself. And he honestly admitted that neither he nor anyone else could predict anything. “But we will do everything to ensure that the collapse of past years does not happen again. So that there are no more economic shocks of 1991 and 1998,” said the leader of United Russia. And for this he promised to “carefully conduct monetary policy, maintain a predictable exchange rate of the national currency, consistently fight inflation, and ensure the fulfillment of social obligations.”

There will be no sharp fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate. “Despite all the problems, not exactly, but precisely because we need to overcome them as quickly as possible, we are not going to abandon our strategic plans, put them on the back burner.”

According to the Prime Minister, right now, when the configuration of the global economy is changing, additional opportunities arise to implement the project of creating an international financial center in Russia, “to transform the ruble into a regional reserve currency.”

Apparently in connection with the upcoming increase in social taxes, the head of the cabinet remembered his promise to reduce the tax burden. And he immediately proposed several specific measures. Firstly, income tax will be reduced by 4%, that is, to 20%. Secondly, regional authorities have been asked to reduce the tax on small businesses from 15 to 5% (experts say that few regions will dare to do this, but the word of the prime minister is sometimes stronger than even a crisis, so this decision has some prospects). Thirdly, the amount of the depreciation bonus on income tax will increase from 10 to 30%. Fourthly, the procedure for calculating VAT on advance payments will be optimized. And all this will come into effect on January 1, 2009, a year earlier than previously planned.

The Prime Minister also demanded a radical reduction in the VAT refund period. Already at the end of this year, the debt for VAT refunds from the budget will be brought to a minimum.

Mr. Putin promised several more measures to support the economy, for example, the purchase of Russian products at state auctions. It was also decided to allow companies to issue infrastructure bonds under guarantees of the Russian Federation or Vnesheconombank to finance the construction of particularly significant, large facilities.

In addition, Mr. Putin ordered an increase in unemployment benefits to 4,900 rubles from 2009. All these measures on the sidelines of the congress were approved by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who for the first time stated that the 2009 budget could ultimately turn out to be surplus-free and even deficit-free, which has never happened in the country in the 21st century.

Speaking about tactical measures to combat the crisis, Mr. Putin promised that Russia will not abandon strategic development plans. “We must emerge from the period of global instability stronger, more competitive and use the crisis to increase our efficiency,” said the Prime Minister. And he emphasized that “we will not solve problems at the expense of citizens.” Mr. Putin also said that “it is planned to preserve and develop national projects, including Health and Education.”

After the congress, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov commented on the economic part of Mr. Putin’s report to journalists.

“The main thing is that we do not give up our plans. Yes, this may seem like a slogan to some,” noted the First Deputy Prime Minister, “but we have chosen a scenario for today. Neither extremely soft nor extremely hard—medium.” “We understand that today all economic laws have been violated. All Nobel laureates today are giving in to what is happening. But the most terrible state is when no one knows where the “bottom” is. But this does not relieve anyone from the obligation to respond. And we will react together with public organizations and political parties. It’s open,” Mr. Shuvalov promised.

Speaking about tax reform , the first vice-president promised that the government would return to this topic in April 2009. Mr. Shuvalov admitted that increasing the unified social tax will cost the taxpayer dearly - 1.8% of GDP, but clarified: “I would like to note that, speaking today, the prime minister has already covered most of these costs with new tax breaks. Namely, 1.1% of GDP.” Moreover, Mr. Shuvalov assured journalists that the issue of radically reducing VAT or even replacing it with another tax has not been removed from the agenda. But in a crisis, he, like the Ministry of Finance, considers the reform of the basic treasury tax to be a strategically wrong step.

Mr. Shuvalov is prepared for the fact that not all government decisions announced yesterday will bring the desired result. He even admitted the revolutionary thought that in the spring, looking at the world during or after the crisis, Putin’s cabinet could say: “These decisions were correct and useful, but these were wrong and harmful - we refuse them.”

And Mr. Shuvalov defended the ruble. He gave clear advice to speculators: “Don’t be nervous. The Central Bank will turn the ruble in different directions a couple of times. And he will punish unscrupulous players.” In general, there will be no devaluation. The only ones who were upset by Mr. Shuvalov were those who entered into long-term contracts at prices at the beginning of 2008. These contracts will be renegotiated based on actual prices. The First Vice agreed that this approach is quite tough, but it will be implemented. Now all sectoral ministers and deputy prime ministers are working on the problem. They will submit their materials to the government on December 5. Only after this will the “scale of the disaster” become completely clear.

...After Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the Party's Supreme Council Boris Gryzlov spoke at the United Russia congress. He explained to the congress delegates why the new edition of the party program was not ready. Because today “United Russia” is “the main party of the country.” This means that “the basic program document must reflect the full degree of responsibility,” and its writing must be approached with the utmost seriousness. “The discussion is already underway in the political clubs of United Russia. Taking into account the opinion of all party organizations, by the next congress we will be able to reach the adoption of this fundamental document for the party,” said Mr. Gryzlov.

He also believes that the global financial crisis “does not remove strategic tasks from the agenda - entering the innovative path, improving the quality of life, strengthening Russia’s international positions.” Moreover, the chairman of the bureau of the party's Supreme Council believes that the current situation can benefit the country. In this regard, he even used a poetic metaphor: “By confronting new challenges, overcoming the consequences of the global crisis, Russia will become even stronger. After all, when a storm gathers, the dead wood breaks, the storm uproots dead trees, and space is created for the young and strong to grow. Our Russia is exactly like that – young and strong!”

After hearing encouraging speeches from the leaders of the country and the party, United Russia members began their routine business. First, they unanimously decided to unite with the Agrarian Party of Russia. Then United Russia entered into a cooperation agreement with the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. And she even changed the full name of the party, eliminating the words “all-Russian” and “political” from it.

At the Tenth Congress, amendments to the party charter were approved, abolishing the mandatory payment of membership dues, changing the procedure for admission to the party and introducing rotation of party leadership. Now tenure in the same leadership position in the party will be limited to two terms. And the decision on admission to United Russia will be made taking into account the results of a preliminary interview with the applicant based on the results of his participation in internal party life and the recommendations of the council of party supporters.

United Russia also re-elected the party's General Council. This body will continue to be headed by Vyacheslav Volodin. Head of the central executive committee Andrei Vorobyov, first deputy secretary of the presidium of the general council Andrei Isaev, deputy secretary Konstantin Kosachev, deputy secretary of the presidium of the general council Yuri Shuvalov retained their posts. The congress also approved the composition of the General Council of 150 people, although according to the charter there are five more seats in the General Council. United Russia decided to leave these seats vacant until the next congress so that they could be taken by those who prove themselves worthy.

Another event of the congress was the launch of the United Russia Internet project - a new information portal www.er.ru. One of the components of the project was the social network “Odnopartets”, which, according to the authors’ plans, should compete with the famous “Odnoklassniki”.

Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA, Vera KUZNETSOVA