The meeting took place ahead of the Government’s annual report to the State Duma.
Mikhail Mishustin’s meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin
Mikhail Mishustin’s meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin
Mikhail Mishustin’s meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin
Mikhail Mishustin’s meeting with State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin
Excerpts from the transcript:
Mikhail Mishustin: Good afternoon, Mr Volodin.
As you know, we have already met with all the State Duma parliamentary groups ahead of the Government’s annual performance report at the lower chamber. During these meetings, we had lively discussions on today’s agenda. Our colleagues have put forward a plethora of novel proposals. This enabled us to raise urgent issues affecting businesses and the people.
We hope to have the same kind of constructive engagement during the performance report. This is an essential working format since it enables us to make sure that we are on the same page in terms of our legislative agenda, while also taking into consideration the requests coming from the regions. It goes without saying that this framework enables us to ensure that we fulfil the President’s instructions.
This open and honest dialogue with the parliamentarians is an essential part of this process, which is attributable, in particular, to the feedback loop and the dialogue between the MPs and their constituencies, which is something the President always emphasises. Many of these aspirations usually find their way into the questions. These are issues which matter for people and businesses. We are ready for this exercise.
Mr Volodin, I pass the floor to you.
Vyacheslav Volodin: Mr Mishustin.
The State Duma has built a constructive relationship with the Government. I would like to thank you, your deputy prime ministers and ministers.
We are free to raise any topical issues, no matter how complex or sensitive they are. Of course, when it comes to the Government’s performance report, all political groups and MPs try to use this opportunity to the best of their ability for raising topics which cause concern among our people. We have many questions on the list, and they have been raised before, but I think that they will once again be reflected in the Government report. Our people have been waiting for solutions, and they exist.
Priority issues include matters dealing with the housing and utilities sector. We cannot but be concerned about the growing tariffs. The State Duma has been working with the Government to find a solution, while taking into account that this topic falls within the purview of the regional governments. As far as we are concerned, we believe that it would be wrong for us just to sit there and observe these processes unfold. It is our belief that in some regions, tariffs have increased too much. For this reason, we have put forward a joint initiative to introduce legislative amendments for vesting the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service with additional authority. In our view, this will enable us to take the situation under control and prevent any future excesses.
All the parliamentary groups held their meetings, in fact. Committees engaged in substantive debates with the corresponding federal ministers. We will try to use this opportunity to become even more effective in our efforts to fulfil the President’s agenda so that we achieve the goals and objectives as set forth by the President in his Address to the Federal Assembly.
I would like to stress that all this has enabled us to review the Government report as early as in February. This is the first time this has happened on our watch. We used to consider these reports in June, May or April.
However, the Government and the State Duma have been using new technology, which, among other things, enabled us to assess performance. We remain in touch with the Government at all times. All this offered us an opportunity to set the date for the performance report much earlier than in the previous years. This is the kind of standard other agencies must reach. If the Government is ready to report on its performance as early as in February, all other agencies which report to the State Duma must also present their reports earlier in the year. This way, their reporting exercise would be more relevant. We must review annual performance once the year comes to an end without waiting for six months. The Government has been doing a great deal to improve executive performance, and we can only support these efforts.
