Izvestia: "Popular Front designs new State Duma structure"
Vladimir Putin conducted the first session of the co-ordination council of the Russian Popular Front after the United Russia conference. The Prime Minister recommended that Popular Front members think about ways to conduct the election campaign and attract votes.
Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) NGO head Boris Titov has been thinking about the structure of the future State Duma for some time already. Currently, State Duma committees are responsible for some areas and their structure directly reflects government frame. Titov has proposed to target the committees with the tasks set by the Popular Front and United Russia programme.
"For instance, in the economic sector, it is possible to create a committee for improvement of business climate and attraction of investment, a committee for creation of jobs in state-of-the-art technologies," Titov said.
It is also possible, in his view, to create a body dealing with competition and small businesses. He has also proposed to have a separate committee for new industrialisation.
The new State Duma structure prepared by Titov is ready, Titov said, although at the moment he has only prepared it for discussion within the Popular Front. Initially, Titov plans to submit his proposals to a discussion among his Popular Front colleagues from its "industrial core".
In addition to the economic committees, Titov has proposed to form a committee fighting corruption and a committee for state-private partnership in the social sector.
"This committee will deal with creation of private kindergartens, for example. Although the state has invested a lot of money in social services, nobody knows where this money has landed. Private organisations provide these services much better," Titov said.
The idea was shared by the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin. The latter, however, proposed not to change the State Duma structure but to choose a concrete speaker for each initiative of the Programme of People's Initiatives so that such a speaker could advance a specific project in the State Duma. Shokhin said that Nikolai Fyodorov who had been tasked with writing a programme had also prepared a plan of legislative work with bills for future State Duma deputies.
Vladimir Putin was not enthralled with the plans on reforming a new State Duma. He brought up an obvious issue – Popular Front members should become State Duma deputies first, and after that they could contemplate changes.
"The State Duma structure should be constructed under the programme, bearing in mind the objectives that we have set, but first there will be elections," Putin said. "It is possible to think about it in advance, in a rather accurate manner, but first of all it is necessary to obtain a mandate for the State Duma formation, majority control, and the right to make decisions on its structure."
At the beginning of the meeting, Vladimir Putin said that since all of those present were on the United Russia election list they should do their best to go out and win the people's votes.
Alexander Matveyev, Izvestia
Anastasia Novikova
