"Rossiiskaya Gazeta": "12 Questions from MPs to Form the Basis of the Government’s First Report"
State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov said three questions had been supplied by each party, which puts the total number at 12. The questions were to be forwarded to the Government the same day, so that the Prime Minister would take them into account when preparing his report.
Boris Gryzlov said yesterday that on April 6 the Cabinet would make it first report on its work in keeping with amendments to the Constitution adopted at the initiative of President Dmitry Medvedev late last year. The Speaker said that the questions had not been changed in any way.
The main question asked by United Russia concerns science-intensive technologies.
"The goals formulated in the development strategy through 2020 must be attained despite the economic downturn," Gryzlov said. "We can do this only by developing science-based sectors."
The State Duma Council determined the procedure for the additional meeting scheduled for April 6. It will begin not at 10 am as usual, but at noon, and will most likely not end before 8 pm. It is planned that Vladimir Putin will present the Government's report for 2008 and then its anti-crisis policies for 2009.
After that, the parties will be able to ask three additional questions each. In conclusion, representatives of the four parties will have the floor for assessing the Government's work last year. After a 60-minute break, they will reconvene for the first reading of amendments to the 2009 budget, the Pension Fund, the Social Insurance Fund, and the Fund of Mandatory Medical Insurance.
But this is the agenda for an additional plenary meeting, while today the MPs will conduct the first reading of the bill on the Government's quarterly report. They intend to hear the Government's reports quarterly during the economic downturn, because the Government, the Central Bank and several state corporations now have additional powers to spend substantial funds and to take and implement decisions for safeguarding the Russian economy against the consequences of the global financial crisis.
The MPs have given the Government and the Central Bank broader powers in this trying period, but they will monitor their activities. In accordance with the draft law, the Government will report every three months (no later than 30 days after the end of the reporting quarter) on the measures taken to support the financial and employment markets and economic sectors.
These reports should include general information about the adoption of laws and aggregate volume of funds used in specific sectors, as well as show how the funds were distributed among legal and constituent entities, and how additional allocations to Vnesheconombank, the Deposit Insurance Agency, the Housing and Utilities Reform Fund, and the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending have been used.
Besides, reports should include information about overall allocations to economic sectors and the specific enterprises that have received funds from the banks to which VEB had provided subordinated loans.
The list of speakers today includes Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko, First Deputy Minister of the Interior Mikhail Sukhodolsky, and Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika. The MPs expect them to report on children's safety and on measures taken to protect the interests of adopted children.
Despite the economic downturn, the State Duma has not forgotten about public holidays. Vasily Zakharyashchev (United Russia) submitted to the lower house a draft law cutting the 10-day New Year holidays to January 1, 2 and 7 and increasing the May holidays to four days (May 1-4) in 2010.
The MP explained that many dacha owners traditionally start developing their land plots in early May.
The leaders of the United Russia party in Parliament have not expressed their opinion of the MP's proposal, but about a score of similar proposals previously made by different parties have not been approved.
By Tamara Shkel
