Tariffs will be taken away from natural monopolies
Let's start with MPS
The Duma members are embarking on a new crusade against natural monopolies. At yesterday's parliamentary hearings, organized by the head of the economic policy committee Sergei Glazyev and dedicated to the state policy in the field of antimonopoly regulation, the Minister of Antimonopoly Policy Ilya Yuzhanov promised to seriously review the tariff policy of natural monopolies.

The love of Duma members for natural monopolies is well known. Deputies constantly made attempts to take control of the monopolies. One of these attempts is a bill being prepared in the Energy Committee on the reorganization of natural monopolies, more than 25% of the shares of which belong to the state. According to this document, all decisions on the restructuring of monopolies must be made legislatively, that is, by the Duma. In addition, without taking into account antimonopoly legislation, and often contradicting it, deputies have already adopted a number of laws, for example, “On Gas Supply”.
Now the Duma members have decided to act in a more civilized manner. They will start with tariffs, in which, by the way, the Minister for Antimonopoly Policy played an important role. The first victim was also found - this is the Ministry of Railways. At parliamentary hearings, Ilya Yuzhanov expressed concern that MAP today controls only 30% of railway tariffs, and the rest goes through the Ministry of Railways. And we are talking about export tariffs. “The Ministry of Railways is itself an economic entity and regulates itself,” Yuzhanov was indignant. “And this is a serious problem, because this sector of the economy is actually taken out of state control.” Here Yuzhanov was unexpectedly attacked by the president of the International Union of Metallurgists, Serafim Kolpakov, with the words: “Is your antimonopoly ministry necessary if it cannot do anything with the Ministry of Railways?” Yuzhanov was offended and explained that the Ministry of Railways cannot break laws. Yuzhanov hopes to correct this situation with the help of Duma members. For example, prepare and amend the law on railway transport. Yuzhanov immediately remembered that the international agreement giving the Ministry of Railways the opportunity to set export tariffs was never ratified by the Duma. After the MPS, Yuzhanov remembered about airports, which often combine two business entities - the airport itself and the transportation company. And the merged company has a competitive advantage over the others.
Yuzhanov was not supported by Andrei Zadernyuk, chairman of the Federal Energy Commission that regulates natural monopolies in the fuel and energy sector. “We must cherish natural monopolies,” said Zadernyuk, “if we foolishly destroy them, then it will be bad for all of us. By the way, note that antimonopoly policy and regulation of monopolies are still different things.” With that, the deputies dispersed.

IRINA Kommersant-REZNIK

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 53 dated March 29, 2000, p. 7