| MEDT and the Ministry of Property lost their powers Yesterday, the long-announced process of ridding departments of redundant functions began. The first to be cut were the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Property Relations. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, which itself prepared decisions on the resection of unnecessary functions, was happy to set an example for other departments. Why the Ministry of Property was among the pioneers remains unclear. The ministry itself chose to remain silent yesterday. It is unlikely that the ministries needed any of the lost functions, but this, as the newspaper correspondent was told in the ministry, is “a political issue.”
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, even at the stage of preparing lists of redundant functions, said that they would begin with the elimination of powers that exist only formally or that contradict the law. The Ministry of Economic Development, in particular, is no longer obliged to prepare draft development budgets (by the way, no one prepares them). The function of “determining the requirements for the assignment of higher qualification titles in a profession in the field of domestic trade and public catering and the assignment of such titles” is also being eliminated. As the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade told our newspaper, this is contrary to the law, since all trade is in private hands.
The Ministry will no longer have to assess the “balance of financial and material flows,” prepare proposals “to regulate basic financial and economic proportions,” and develop measures to ensure the unity of the economic space and freedom of economic activity. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade should no longer maintain a register of industry associations of manufacturers and exporters and is not obliged to take “measures to form and saturate the domestic consumer market with goods, increase the competitiveness of domestic goods, and support domestic producers.”
The Ministry of Property, in particular, has lost the opportunity to participate in the development of federal programs for the use, protection, defense and reproduction of forest and water resources and subsoil resources; take part in the development and implementation of investment programs, the formation of the terms of production sharing agreements. The ministry will no longer be able to keep track of organizations that have mobilization tasks, regardless of their departmental subordination, and maintain their register, as well as conduct scientific, technical, marketing, sociological and other research as part of the analysis of processes related to privatization, management and disposal of state property.
Soon the rest will follow the first swallows. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has already submitted eight draft resolutions and one draft presidential decree to the government (the Ministry of Justice is subordinate to it). So soon the government, apparently, will cut off everything superfluous from the Ministry of Atomic Energy, the Ministry of Press, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Industry and Science, Rossudostroeniya and Roshydromet. In the near future, as the economic department has already announced, projects will be prepared for other departments. And then, according to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, a specially created interdepartmental working group will identify redundant functions, which, in addition to officials from different ministries, must also include representatives of the public. Vera SITNINA |
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