Dream of freedom of choice

Sergei Mironov is full of legislative plans

Following the lower house of the Russian parliament, the upper house also goes on vacation. The last meeting of the spring session of the Federation Council took place on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, the chairman of the chamber, leader of the A Just Russia party, Sergei Mironov, emphasized that during this session, the senators he led managed to approve as many as 163 bills, of which the speaker most remembered five laws of “social orientation.” Number one in this series, Mr. Mironov put the rule that abolishes the ban on the privatization of housing received under a social tenancy agreement after March 1, 2005. Previously, the Constitutional Court recognized this restriction as inconsistent with the Basic Law of the country, which entailed the need to amend the law “On the privatization of housing stock.”

In addition, Sergei Mironov considered it necessary to once again draw the attention of the press to the provision of a second additional pension to residents of besieged Leningrad and military pensioners. He also did not forget about increasing the minimum wage (SMW) to 4,330 rubles, but made a reservation that this generous gesture on the part of the state will not solve the problem of poverty. “Work in this direction will continue,” Mr. Mironov promised. In his speech, he also mentioned two technical regulations adopted by the chambers of the Federal Assembly - on fire safety, as well as on milk and fat-and-oil products. “Now no one will deceive our citizens by selling a milk drink instead of milk,” the speaker stated with satisfaction. He named joining the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control as the last in a series of most significant bills.

However, on the last day of work, the senators also managed to approve a number of amendments to the Tax Code, the budget for the current year and for the planning period of 2009-2010, as well as the law on providing housing for veterans of the Great Patriotic War. At the same time, they did not forget about their homeland - politics, voting for an increase in party funding. Now the leaders of the federal parliamentary elections will receive from the state budget for each vote earned not 5 rubles, as before, but as much as 20. It is not difficult to calculate that this innovation of United Russia, which consistently wins elections at any level, is most profitable. True, government money is allocated not only to the parties that entered the Duma, but also to those who managed to overcome the nanobarrier of 3% of the votes. By the way, according to the results of December 2, 2007, this level turned out to be beyond the capabilities of any of the non-parliamentary parties, so for now only those sitting in the Duma will receive funding.

The next time senators will gather on Bolshaya Dmitrovka is in September. It is curious, however, that on the eve of the closing of the session, Sergei Mironov enlivened the slightly empty summer media space with a statement that the Federation Council was already preparing a bill on the election of members of the upper house of parliament. He explained that the Constitution does not allow senators to be elected directly, but proposed the following scheme: the governor and legislative assembly of the region nominate several candidates, citizens vote, and the local parliament delegates the winners to the Federation Council. “Since United Russia has a majority in the State Duma, the bill will be adopted only if the president gives the go-ahead,” Mr. Mironov realistically assessed the prospects for his legislative initiatives. At the same time, he noted that it would also be good to elect governors directly, as in the old days. But, according to him, this will only be possible when “the municipal government gets back on its feet.”

Natalia ROZHKOVA