Rossiyskaya Gazeta

Some truly revolutionary changes are afoot in the Russian state management system. A drastic reduction of the bureaucracy, by at least one-third, the shifting of a vast number of functions away from state bodies, the merger or even the abolition of some ministries - this is just a superficial view of the administrative reforms. It appears that ministries in the current form, with their usual roles and powers, will cease to exist altogether. This is the conclusion to be drawn from yesterday's meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Boris Aleshin, head of the government's administrative reform commission, and journalists. The deputy prime minister diplomatically avoided answering direct questions such as: How many ministries will be kept? Which will merge and which disappear? "It is not part of my brief." The commission merely analyses their functions and makes proposals as to which should go altogether and which should be transferred to business and self-regulating organizations. As for the structure of the government itself, a small group of people to be named by the president will work on that. Authoritative sources insist that the head of state has already selected these people but they have not yet been named. One can assume with a large degree of certainty that this elite group will be headed by Boris Aleshin again. In an interview published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta the other day, another deputy prime minister shared his views of the future structure of the government. According to him, it should have one, at most two deputy prime ministers and sector ministries should be dispensed with. Boris Aleshin put it differently: "The sector component will no longer be in evidence anywhere." Comparing these two views, one might conclude that sector departments are certainly on the way out. To all appearances, they will be replaced by ministries that will tackle not the specific issues of a particular sector of the economy, albeit a major sector, but strategic tasks of socioeconomic development. Boris Aleshin clearly had no intention of revealing his hand. This is understandable. The reform affects the personal and corporate interests of very many people and requires an entirely different view of the system of state management. Therefore, any information leak might be very awkward, indeed possibly premature, since it is the president's decision in any case. He tried to convey to journalists the profound nature of the reforms, which is nothing at all to do with creating a government for the new presidential term. The task is more complex and more massive - Russia must become a competitive country in every respect. But it cannot compete on a par with leading countries without creating domestic competition that matches world competition. To that end, Boris Aleshin believes it is necessary to build an entirely new system of relations between the authorities, business and society, based on the sides' parity. It is on the basis of this strategic task that the administrative reform, part of which will be changing the government's structure, is being conducted. As for the immediate surprises the government commission is to spring on us, they are legal acts on the reform of some current state services and the transfer of their functions to business. This applies in particular to taking technical inventories of real estate facilities, technical inspection of vehicles, notarization and other functions. Boris Aleshin stressed that the transfer of functions from the state to business must take place in accordance with two important conditions: It requires a deferment period (that is, a new law or rule cannot be introduced the next day; market players must be able to prepare for it) and a transitional period. He cited as an example the technical inspection of vehicles: The idea is that for two years technical inspection will be carried out by both the state motor vehicle inspection administration and the private sector - let the people get used to it and make a choice. In the very near future the licensing of more than 50 types of activity will also be abolished - tourist activity, for example. But as a rule, we will see the introduction of obligatory property liability to the customer. So far the commission has prepared 397 legal acts to accompany the administrative reform and there are more to come, of course.