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Putin to build new chain of command
And United Russia wants to help him with it
The United Russia party will hold a congress next week to discuss Vladimir Putin’s development strategy for Russia until 2020. Boris Gryzlov, the leader of the party, would like Putin to join United Russia at the congress, before taking the Prime Minister’s office. In his new capacity Putin will complete the administrative reform, reducing the number of civil servants, according to Gryzlov. Experts have no doubts that Putin will change the existing chain of command.
The congress will be held on April 14 and 15 at the Gostiny Dvor, the most convenient venue for top-ranked guests from the Kremlin. Gryzlov said outgoing President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Dmitry Medvedev were expected to attend. Medvedev will be inaugurated as President on May 7, and the next day the State Duma will confirm Putin as Prime Minister. But before this happens, Gryzlov will repeat his offer for Putin to join United Russia. Putin is unlikely to accept the invitation, believes Alexei Makarkin, Deputy General Director of the Center for Political Technologies. “Putin could remain a central political figure in Russia, and in this case he will have to join United Russia to strengthen his institutionally unrestricted but somewhat uncertain powers,” he said, noting this was the only reason that could persuade Putin to head the party.
Meanwhile, many of the recently appointed executive officials have come from United Russia, and Putin might accept Gryzlov’s offer to increase his control over officials, especially given that Putin in his new capacity is expected to focus on the completion of the administrative reform. According to Gryzlov, the army of Russian officials has been growing too rapidly recently. “When the administrative reform was launched in 2004, the number of officials was growing by about 18,000 a year, against an annual increase of between 120,000 and 130,000 in 2005 and 2006,” he lamented.
Experts agree that Putin, once confirmed as Prime Minister, will rebuild the chain of command to his taste: governors and presidential envoys will report not to the President but to Prime Minister. “Perhaps, new deputy prime ministerial positions will be created, and new state committees will emerge,” says Dmitry Badovsky, a political analyst. The numbers of officials will be reduced in regional administrations in the first place, while presidential representatives will have to focus on primarily socioeconomic matters, which means that they will in fact be controlled by Putin rather than by the new President.
Redundancies alone will not help, other measures are needed to enhance the government’s efficiency, argues Alexander Shokhin, President of Russia’s Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. “Broad outsourcing is needed, the government should transfer some of its functions to self-regulated organizations,” he reckons. The heads of federal services could also serve as Deputy Prime Ministers, Shokhin thinks. “And Deputy Prime Ministers should have the right to coordinate interdepartmental decisions so that no minister could speak against,” he said.
Analytical department of RIA RosBusinessConsulting
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