03 June 2004 17:13
Russian Pro-Kremlin MP outlines potential grounds for nationalization
Russia is not planning to re-examine the results of its privatization process, a leading politician has told Ekho
Moskvy radio in an interview on 3 June. A potential new law on nationalization was "absolutely not" a question
of expropriation and would be "a legal guarantee against improper de-privatization", One Russia MP and State
Duma deputy speaker Oleg Morozov said. However, such a law would also create a legal basis for determining "the
compensation the owner would receive if the state nationalizes his property", Morozov added.
Morozov also explained the circumstances under which the state might nationalize property. He said this could happen
when it made economic and strategic sense, "when the security of citizens is threatened and state intervention is
required, when state security as a whole is threatened, under special circumstances, for example, when war is
imminent".
He said that the process should be governed by law, not by the president or anyone else. He added that law should
"clearly define in what circumstances and when the state can claim property for itself".
Morozov set out examples for potential nationalization: "for example, an airport - it is a strategic site. If it
is being operated ineffectively, if it threatens the security of citizens - a sea port, railways, I don't know - a
factory producing military equipment." He added that the oil and gas industry could also be subjected to
nationalization in some circumstances. "Maybe some fields that are regarded as strategically important," he
said. Morozov also mentioned space enterprises as being strategically important. "There are sites and factories
that can be classified as strategic. Agreement can be reached on this. I don't think that anyone will be greatly
outraged if we agree that companies that produce, let's say, space equipment should be classified as strategic and
the government should be given special rights regarding these companies," he said.
Morozov said that the budget would have to set out funds to be paid to the owner of a nationalized firm as
compensation. "The problem here is slightly different: how should we determine how much it is worth?" he said.
"This requires serious work and the government bill is not quite perfect in this respect. We are unhappy about many
aspects of it," he said.
Morozov said that there was a negative tendency in Russian society to regard businessman and wealth as bad.
"Unfortunately, the notion of a presumption of business's guilt has arisen in our society. Business is guilty
because it has money, because there are rich people there and, naturally, criticisms of them arise immediately," he
said.
Morozov denied that there were any special conditions that set Russia apart from other countries with regard to
nationalization. He said that the main motives for nationalization "are the higher interests of the state, which
are linked to its strategic interests, military-political interests and the security of its citizens".
Morozov said that the nationalization bill had nothing to do with the Yukos affair, although he admitted that a
scenario in which Yukos's market value is driven down by the legal actions against it and the company is then
bought cheaply was possible. "This scenario is theoretically possible but it has nothing to do with" the
nationalization bill, he said. Morozov said this would be governed by other laws, such as bankruptcy legislation.
Morozov said a fair arbiter of disputes could not always be found in Russia. "Does the government act as a fair
arbiter in such disputes? In my opinion it often doesn't. Very often the government takes someone's side and
gets caught up with some elements of business. This is also bad," he said. Morozov said that legislation needed to
be improved to avoid these kinds of problems.
Morozov was asked about the clause in the Russian Constitution that states that a person can use his property as he
sees fit and why this clause was flouted. He replied, "If you use your property to my detriment, as a citizen of
this country, it no longer democracy, but something else. The highest principle of a democratic constitution is the
power of the people, of the majority."
Morozov added that the bill would probably be debated in the Duma's autumn session
[Ekho Moskvy radio] |
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