| These days, the fate of every draft law is considered
by the "Politburo" (Ed. allusion to the Communist Party
of the USSR), consisting of the leaders of four centrist factions.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin admits that the Cabinet's
version of a law is forwarded to the four, receives their approval,
and that is that. More and more often, the Kremlin and the Cabinet
find it too much effort to obtain advice from the leaders of the
remaining five factions and groups. Only draft laws blessed by
the executive branch of the government pass the lower house. In
its present form, the Duma is anything but a house of parliament.
Do you think that is an exaggeration?
Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky's statement recently circulated
in the Duma. He is convinced that the quality of parliamentary
activity in Russia, which is constantly condemned and criticized
by legal experts, "is deteriorating at an ever-increasing
rate." The flood of Cabinet laws engulfing the Duma by the
end of the spring session utterly paralysed the legal directorate
of the lower house. "Even members of specific committees
don’t have enough time to understand the contents of the
laws, much less deputies who vote on them," Yavlinsky said.
"Regions empowered by law to offer their conclusions on laws
and proposed amendments are completely alienated from the legislative
process." Yavlinsky's conclusion is harsh: "This profanation
of the legislative process and deterioration into something farcical,
is the logical outcome of the eagerness of the presidential administration
to establish total control over the Duma." Ordinary Russians
will have to live with the consequences of this situation, as
poor quality laws are "tantamount to an infringement of their
legal rights".
According to Boris Reznik, Deputy Chairman of the Information
Policy Committee, the government responds to presidential statements
by pushing the adoption of unfinished laws. "Why be in such
a hurry with the law on land sales? Surely this could have waited
until autumn, so that this additional time could have been spent
on improving the law?"
The laws required by the executive branch of government are
pushed through regardless. Even the protocol is ignored if it
gets in the way. The text of the law may be distributed among
deputies on the day of a discussion, even if the rules require
legislators to spend at least three becoming acquainted with this
law. Some amendments proposed by deputies disappear without a
trace when industry-specific committees work on the laws. Deputy
Chairman of the Property Committee Nikolai Arefiev says that Chairman
Victor Pleskachevsky never convenes meetings of working groups.
Instead he organizes closed meetings instead, and opponents are
never invited. A close entourage of Pleskachevsky's associates
make all the decisions.
Why argue with your opponents when it is so easy to exclude
them? "This is how the Land Code and the law on bankruptcy
were drafted," Arefiev says. "That was how the committee
worked on the management of the property and assets of the railroads.
Do not be misled by the title. This is pure camouflage. Essentially,
this boils down to privatization of the strategic natural monopoly."
The executive branch retains a stable majority in the Duma -
the four centrist factions. The Russian military may well envy
the internal discipline in the coalition. According to rumours
in the Duma corridors, Unity deputies receive a short memo before
the plenary meetings: a summary of the law to be debated and an
indication as to how the deputy should vote. The system is excellent.
Many legislators do not even attend Duma meetings. Someone else
from their faction will push their buttons for them.
There are other means of pushing through a law. The vital law
on bankruptcy was tabled for debate after 4p.m. There were over
3,000 amendments for the second reading, with several hundred
to be voted on separately. The author of each amendment was given
the floor; followed by the chairman of the bankruptcy committee,
and sometimes a spokesman for the Cabinet. Legislators called
it a day around midnight. "Exhausted, the deputies only wanted
all this to be over," says Nikolai Gonchar. "No one
had any inkling as to what was passed in the end." This method
is usually used when unpopular laws need to be passed.
Reznik comments on something new as well: a group of young men
appears near Cabinet seats (they may be from the presidential
administration but no one knows how they get in, as the entrance
is guarded). The young men watch closely, noting who votes which
way on which bills.
Generally speaking, the lower house resembles a workshop churning
out the laws required by Mikhail Kasyanov's Cabinet.
How is all this achieved? "I call it the carrot principle,"
explains Ivan Grachev. "Deputies are promised places on the
new party lists even though only 10-15% of them have any real
chance of finding their names there. This is what happened once
to deputies of Our Home is Russia, who voted the way they were
told. These days, lawmakers rely on the regime's gratitude in
the next elections. I think it is a mistake to rely on it."
The worst thing is that citizens of Russia will have to abide
by the basic laws adopted in such haste. We can only guess at
the consequences of this practice in future. | 