| The Kremlin and the Central Bank will seek a compromise on the status of the country's main bank On Friday, President Vladimir Putin met with Bank of Russia Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko. Talking about the results of the meeting with the president, Viktor Gerashchenko spoke more about oil prices and the fall of world stock indices (this was the official topic of their conversation), but it was obvious: most of all he was interested in the position of the head of state regarding the status of the Central Bank. It is clear that the exchange of views between the president and Viktor Gerashchenko should seriously affect the fate of the sensational amendments to the law on the Central Bank. Perhaps a compromise option has already been determined.
This will become known in the next two weeks. After all, according to the chairman of the Central Bank, in 10-12 days it was decided to convene a meeting of representatives of the government, the Central Bank, the presidential administration and relevant State Duma committees to discuss proposals related to this law. Meanwhile, the deputies themselves should begin hearing the amendments tomorrow. As we expected, the meeting of the working commission on Thursday ended in virtually nothing - they decided to postpone the discussion. Perhaps precisely because a meeting between Gerashchenko and Putin was coming up. After all, if the key political figures in the process can find a compromise solution, then implementing it will not be so difficult.
However, there were quite enough formal reasons to postpone the meeting: specific proposals to change the law on the Central Bank - a table of amendments - were prepared literally on the same day. This allowed Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Georgy Luntovsky to state that the Central Bank is not yet ready to express its position on all amendments, which means that discussing them does not yet make much sense.
Moreover, after the meeting, Mr. Luntovsky did not rule out that amendments to the law on the Central Bank would again have to be sent for the first reading. This scenario gives a trump card to supporters of Central Bank independence. Hardly anyone wants to return the law to the first reading - after all, this will significantly lengthen the time frame for its adoption. And while such a threat remains, the pro-presidential side will have to reckon with it and seek a compromise.
Supporters of Central Bank independence have long come to terms with the need for compromise, just like the Bank of Russia itself. As Viktor Gerashchenko said after a meeting with the President, the main thing now is that the amendments “not weaken the Central Bank of Russia.” It seems that the clash between the Kremlin and the Central Bank, which was expected by many (up to the resignation of Viktor Gerashchenko himself), will not happen - there will be quite a long search for a solution that suits everyone. Nikolay KUZNETSOV |
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