12 May 2004 12:34
Hopes and doubts of Russian politicians emerge as deputies mull PM`s programme
Russia's State Duma easily endorsed Mikhail Fradkov as the country's prime minister on 12 May. Objections
prior to the vote came, as expected, from the Rodina and Communist factions with Communist party leader Gennadiy
Zyuganov concerned at the lack of a new economic programme and Rodina leader Dmitriy Rogozin wondering about
Fradkov's grasp of welfare issues. At the 12 May Duma sitting, Fradkov perhaps sought to address these concerns
with a firm undertaking to raise wages and ensure no-one was left below the poverty line. The following is an excerpt
from the report, which was broadcast by Russian Ekho Moskvy radio on 12 May
[Presenter] Mikhail Fradkov received his second endorsement as prime minister from the State Duma today. [Passage
omitted].
[Presenter] Addressing the deputies, Fradkov said that one of main tasks of the government's work was to raise
wage payments and bring the issue out of the shadows.
[Fradkov] The main problem here is the very rigid differentiation in incomes between the poorest and the richest. The
main, indeed the only, means to a radical solution of the problem is to put up wages. We shall create genuine conditions
for this to happen, through a substantial cut in the rate of the single social tax. The next step will be to bring the
minimum wage gradually closer to subsistence level. This, you understand, will also require a good deal of budget
outlay.
[Presenter] Many observers have already called the procedure for endorsing Fradkov a mere formality and said the
decision regarding his nomination was effectively taken in advance. The pro-presidential One Russia faction controls the
majority in the Duma and its members immediately declared their support for Fradkov, saying everything he did was to
their liking.
Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia [LDPR] said the same, even though they initially had
certain problems with Fradkov.
[Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, [LDPR] leader] He'll get to see and hear the deputies again. There'll be more
questions and more speeches and that can only be to the government's advantage. At the same time, the president has
the chance not to reappoint people. If he's definitely written to Fradkov already, the other 14 ministers -
Fradkov's the 15th after all and [Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr] Zhukov's the 16th and [chief of the Cabinet
of Ministers Staff Dmitriy] Kozak's the 17th - there are 14 and some of them might not be reappointed. This gives
the president another chance for a reshuffle, especially in the power-wielding departments, bearing in mind the act of
terrorism in Groznyy that could be a pretext for not reappointing some of the security people.
[Presenter] That was LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovskiy. Interestingly, in March, Zhirinovskiy's party voted
against Fradkov. The Rodina and CPRF [Communist Party of the Russian Federation] voted against him in March and did so
again today. They had fairly serious objections to his programme, most of which boil down to the fact that the acting
prime minister has not subscribed to an economic policy. Communist leader Gennadiy Zyuganov talked about this
yesterday:
[Zyuganov] The Putin government has no new economic policy. We summed up what such a policy would mean in a few words
a long time ago - a policy that was aimed at strengthening citizens' well-being, raising the country's
prestige and supporting the real sector of the economy and at ensuring the state controlled natural monopolies, gave
maximum support to science and education and did everything possible to develop the defence complex where we have the
technical capacity to handle any task. There have been no proposals of this kind from the Fradkov government or from the
scientific research centres.
[Presenter] Rodina faction leader Dmitriy Rogozin told our programme that, after consultations with Fradkov at the
State Duma sitting yesterday, he had more rather than fewer questions and they were all linked to the welfare
sector.
[Rogozin] I met the prime minister, Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov, and reached the conclusion that all the questions we
raised before his first, effective inauguration in the Duma hadn't been answered and that this is even more the
case now. Everything suggests the government's in a difficult situation and from some answers and comments we could
see there's a gap between Fradkov and the liberals, including [Finance Minister Aleksey] Kudrin and [Economic
Development and Trade Minister German] Gref and even [Health and Social Development Minister Mikhail] Zurabov because
Fradkov answered questions about welfare by referring to the relevant ministers in his cabinet so that we felt the
chairman of the government was perhaps somewhat distant from the decisions being taken by the government.
[Ekho Moskvy radio] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
