| The government is trying to figure out administrative reform Yesterday the cabinet of ministers discussed administrative reform. During the more than two-hour discussion, what experts warned about at the start - six months ago, when the transformation of the federal executive authorities began - was clearly revealed. Namely, that each next step on the path to transforming the existing decade-long system of governing the country will be more and more difficult, and the constantly emerging contradictions will have to be resolved more and more masterfully.
Already, the reform is complicated by the fact that it is necessary to begin its next stage without completing the previous one. The functions recognized as redundant or duplicative have not yet been eliminated (for this it is necessary to amend more than 300 laws), the system of interaction within the completely new three-tier system of federal executive bodies (ministries, federal services and agencies) is far from perfect. Moreover, yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Economic Development Minister German Gref unanimously spoke out in favor of introducing the post of State Secretary in ministries to work with parliament. Because the fixed idea to reduce the number of deputy ministers to two led to chaos in the work of ministries. It turned out that the two deputies could not cope with current activities, and even lobby government bills in the State Duma, since the deputies were dissatisfied with the fact that officials of the “wrong level” - simple heads of departments - were working with them.
According to the Cabinet of Ministers, it is impossible to wait until everything settles down and only then take a new step. Loss of momentum threatens stagnation and, ultimately, failure of administrative reform. And it won't stop there. As Deputy Prime Minister and head of the government commission on this reform, Alexander Zhukov, said yesterday, the lack of high-quality administrative systems at all levels is hindering other institutional reforms. “If it can be implemented at the planned pace and volume, the implementation of other reforms will be much easier - the objective and subjective obstacles that slow them down will disappear,” the Deputy Prime Minister is convinced.
The reluctance to lose the pace of reform was expressed in the commission’s proposal to develop and adopt a Federal Target Program for Administrative Reform (its concept is expected to be considered in the White House today) and finally deal with Federal State Unitary Enterprises (FSUE) and Federal State Institutions (FGI). It was found that many of them exercise authority over state control or supervision, while simultaneously engaging in commerce and providing paid services. According to Mr. Zhukov, “a significant part of the property assigned to them is used for commercial purposes, while the share of budget funding and work on government orders is minimal.” Of the 25 thousand such subordinate structures, the Deputy Prime Minister proposed leaving only a little more than a thousand federal state unitary enterprises and approximately 9.5 thousand federal state institutions in federal ownership. The rest should either be transferred to the regional level, or liquidated or privatized.
However, yesterday it became clear that not all officials are ready to hand over their subordinate structures. For example, the head of the federal agency for industry, Boris Aleshin, said that the administrative reform commission proposes to privatize 172 enterprises run by the agency, included in the list of strategic objects that can be removed from state ownership only by decision of the president. “It is necessary to thoroughly consider each enterprise, without argumentation, it is wrong to determine them for privatization,” said Mr. Aleshin. Alexander Zhukov, no doubt, expected resistance from officials, but he hardly thought about such a primitive form of lobbying. The fact is that these enterprises have already been considered by the commission, and an agreed decision was made on them.
However, yesterday it became clear that not all officials are ready to hand over their subordinate structures. For example, the head of the federal agency for industry, Boris Aleshin, said that the administrative reform commission proposes to privatize 172 enterprises run by the agency, included in the list of strategic objects that can be removed from state ownership only by decision of the president. “It is necessary to thoroughly consider each enterprise, without argumentation, it is wrong to determine them for privatization,” said Mr. Aleshin. Alexander Zhukov, no doubt, expected resistance from officials, but he hardly thought about such a primitive form of lobbying. The fact is that these enterprises have already been considered by the commission, and an agreed decision was made on them.
It is unlikely that Mr. Zhukov expected criticism from his party colleagues. However, I waited. State Duma deputy, leader of the all-Russian organization “Youth Unity” Alexandra Burataeva opposed the transfer of vocational schools to the regions. The Deputy Prime Minister retorted gracefully, shifting the blame onto Ms. Burataeva herself. It turns out that vocational schools will go to the regions not because of the machinations of the reform commission, but according to the law on the division of powers between the federal center and the regions, for which United Russia voted.
However, the reformers got the worst of it not from the deputies, but from Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko. The already traditional struggle between the regions and the center for powers, tax revenues and property yesterday acquired new colors. Ms. Matvienko, with her usual emotionality, reported a significant improvement in the demographic situation in the city on the Neva. But she was not talking about increasing the birth rate or reducing the mortality rate. It turns out that officials - employees of territorial bodies of federal services and agencies - are multiplying at an incredible pace. According to her, there are already more of them than before the reform. “It seems that officials being laid off in Moscow are being transferred to the regions,” she suggested. Yuri Luzhkov, sitting shoulder to shoulder with the St. Petersburg mayor, objected: “In Moscow they are also increasing.” Valentina Matvienko proposed declaring a moratorium on the creation of new territorial bodies in the regions until their powers are determined. This proposal, however, did not pass. The reason is the same - we cannot allow the reform to slow down, which could drag on for many years anyway.
Alexey Kudrin, sharing with his colleagues his opinion that the reform has so far only been implemented by 10%, told an instructive story about how Margaret Thatcher carried out similar transformations in Great Britain. In the 80s of the last century, she also cut officials, increased the efficiency of government, and privatized state property. According to Mr. Kudrin, only in the seventh year of the reform did the “Iron Lady” come to the conclusion that it was necessary to divide government bodies into ministries and agencies. And this work was completed only in 1996. “Today, in terms of the efficiency of public administration, Great Britain is in the top ten,” Mr. Kudrin set the benchmark.
The landmark appears to be barely visible. The current level of public administration in Russia is evidenced by the fact that, according to Mr. Kudrin, half of the documents submitted to the Ministry of Finance do not comply with either the powers of the ministry, or regulations, or normative acts. Hearing this, like Archimedes exclaiming “Eureka!”, the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Alexey Gordeev, reacted: “Finally, I received an answer to the question why letters sent to Kudrin end up with the heads of departments.” And then philosophically, in a completely Socratic way, he characterized the general progress of administrative reform: “Changes for the better follow with such speed that nothing good has time to take root.”
And the prime minister seems to partly agree with his minister. “The costs are obvious. If we want to write on a clean copy, we are forced to work on a draft. The main thing is that there are no big blots,” said Mikhail Fradkov, summing up the discussion. Mikhail VOROBYEV |
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