| After a two-month summer break, the State Duma returns
for its fall session Tuesday to discuss the draft 2004 federal budget and
dozens of other bills, including those on foreign trade and commercial
secrets.
But deputies are likely to be too busy preparing for Dec. 7 parliamentary
elections to do much more than fulfill their main task -- the approval
of next year's budget, analysts said Monday.
"If they approve the budget, then that would be enough to thank
the Lord for," said Yury Korgunyuk, an analyst with the Indem think
tank.
Beside the budget -- which comes up for the first of four readings Sept.
19 -- the Duma is expected to consider more than 60 bills. These include
bills on commercial secrets, the state regulation of foreign trade and
the procedure for adopting constitutional laws.
Grigory Yavlinsky, leader
of the liberal Yabloko party, will continue his annual tradition of proposing
an alternative federal budget.
This time, Yavlinsky's version will introduce subsidies to raise 35
million Russians who live below the poverty line to the minimum subsistence
level, Izvestia reported last week.
Yavlinsky said his faction also will propose 11 bills -- including an
amendment to the Criminal Code -- to impose public control over the secret
services, Izvestia said.
When they gather Tuesday morning, deputies will first draft the Duma
schedule for September and the following months and then review in first
reading amendments to the law on bankruptcy and the Administrative Code.
Deputies are expected to split their time between the Duma and trips
to meet with voters ahead of the December elections.
Due to the looming vote, the fall session is likely to be filled with
populist actions -- some of which appear to have started already.
The Communists are pushing for revising the results of privatization,
while a group of deputies from the centrist People's Deputy faction are
calling for the resignation of Unified Energy Systems head Anatoly Chubais.
"The authors' arguments are like this: First, Chubais is disliked
by the people, second, he is responsible for turning off power in the
regions," said Boris Nadezhdin, deputy head of the Union of Right
Forces, or SPS, Interfax reported.
Under Chubais' reign, UES has repeatedly switched off electricity over
debts.
Chubais is running for a Duma seat on the SPS ballot.
People's Deputy has submitted to Duma committees a draft appeal to the
government to call an emergency meeting of UES shareholders to consider
dismissing Chubais.
The state holds a majority stake in UES.
Communist lawmaker Tatyana Astrakhankina has drafted an appeal to revise
privatization results, Interfax reported.
Communists have constantly complained about privatization, which enriched
a few insiders and impoverished millions.
But supporters insist the privatization was carried out according to
the laws of the time, and that revising its results would wreck havoc
in the country.
Neither of the two proposals is likely to go far, Korgunyuk said, dismissing
them as "nothing but pre-election propaganda."
"As for the Communist Party, all of its public proposals in recent
years should be regarded as nothing but election campaigning," Korgunyuk
said.
Berating Chubais also has become a favorite populist pastime, Korgunyuk
said.
While deputies were resting up during the summer, a new gym was built
in the Duma building, according to local media reports.
It remained unclear how popular the facility would be among the deputies,
many of whom are overweight.
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Budget 2004
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