Statement by the YABLOKO faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, 3.06.2015

STATEMENT

On the draft Law on St.Petersburg Budget “On the Introduction of Changes and Amendments into St.Petersburg Law “On the Budget of St.Petersburg for 2015 and for the Period of 2016-2017”

(the third reading)

Respected deputies,

The YABLOKO faction will not support the draft law “On the Introduction of Changes and Amendments into St.Petersburg Law “On the Budget of St.Petersburg for 2015 and for the Period of 2016-2017” in general.

We have state once again that planning and budget adjustments are made in the absence of a coherent strategy and a feasibility study. “Protected” articles of the budget are not marked. Cutting of budget expenses is made haphazardly and spasmodically, without any apparent justifications.

Problems of the city budget and the budget process again remain unresolved. As before, there are disadvantages of the budget process noted in the past period. In particular, the amendment from the budgetary commission submitted two days before the second reading of the draft law, redistributed without any calculations and justification for the amount of 1.37 billion roubles; also the procedure for preparing of the draft law for the third reading as defined by the legislation of St. Petersburg on the budget process.

That is why, given the serious and fundamental flaws of the draft law of St. Petersburg draft law “On the Introduction of Changes and Amendments into St.Petersburg Law “On the Budget of St.Petersburg for 2015 and for the Period of 2016-2017”, the YABLOKO faction does not consider it possible to support it.

Grigory Yavlinsky,

Deputy of St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly,

Head of the YABLOKO faction