Address by Oksana Kozlovskaya at the 9th Session
of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast (May 29, 2012)
In the first part of her speech the Speaker made evaluation of the foreign policy situation and the state of affairs in Tomsk Oblast. The world is undergoing major system changes in all public life spheres.
“It is obvious that apart from the G8 countries steering the global processes, we in the hinterland also ought to monitor the course of political events and market development in the EU, USA and in the East.
It would be ignorant to believe that the global economy changes would never affect us.
The crisis is ongoing in Greece but it is making the Russian stock market rock as well. Last week the shares of the Russian companies dropped by almost 8 per cent. The experts reckon: when Europe faces economic cooling, Russia should anticipate economic freezing.
The global political system is undergoing changes in political leadership.
The Russian political life is evolving amid these changes.
The newly-elected President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin announced the highlights of the long-term economic policy of Russia till 2020:
– Create and modernize 25 million high-performance workplaces
– Increase the output of high-tech and knowledge-intensive industries
– Improve Russia’s position in the global ease of doing business rating from the 120th to the 20th.
All these objectives are in tune with the priorities of socio-economic development of Tomsk Oblast.
Based on the above it is clear that the Strategy of the regional development must be updated to reflect new challenges and realities. For instance, based on the formal ratio of the population size in Russia and in Tomsk Oblast (0.7 %), our “quota” for creation of high-performance workplaces is 175,000. It accounts for one third of the available workplaces in the region!
In accordance with the Decree of the Russian President on improving the system of public administration, the satisfaction level of the citizens with regard to public and municipal services must reach 90% (!) by 2020, and 70% of the Russian citizens must be able to get these services online.
The command-control way of communication of the government with the citizens is increasingly rejected by the society. Today’s time requires new approaches and forms of interaction. Today information technologies offer opportunities to receive and consider real suggestions of people on each step of preparation of future decisions. The President believes that the initiatives backed by at least 100,000 people in Russia shall be considered by the federal authorities to be eventually shaped into a law or a decree.
“I absolutely agree with this novelty. One or two thousand people willing to give their support to one or another regional initiative will be sufficient for our region”, said the Speaker.
About creation of a competitive political environment
The governor election law comes into force on June 1. The federal law on political parties is already in force. These measures are predominantly aimed to enhance democracy and form a new political culture. Based on the experts’ forecasts, new leaders and novel ideas are anticipated primarily on the local and regional levels.
In October 2012 a number of regions will elect their governors under new rules. At the same time, major elections to local governing bodies will be held. In Tomsk Oblast we will elect 3 heads of municipal entities, 90 heads of settlements and 1,098 local deputies in 116 settlements.
To date, the official website of the Ministry of Justice has registered 164 organizing committees of future parties and in Tomsk Oblast there are 7 offices of political parties so far. We expect that their number will grow to 20-25 this year.
It is essential that the new generation of politicians base their actions on the sense of responsibility for the specific results of the work for the development of each settlement, municipal entity and the Oblast on the whole.
About the agenda
The agenda contains 46 items, among them:
1) Amendments to the Charter of Tomsk Oblast. And, which is more important, we are turning back to direct elections of the governor of Tomsk Oblast.
2) Amendments to the budget law with regard to the receipt of extra revenue in the amount of over 325m rubles. Half of that amount is our earned revenue. The federal money will be allocated to provide support for rural areas and to ease tension in the labor market. Most of the earned revenue is going to be allocated to prevent emergency situations and subsidize local budgets.
3) Lyudmila Eftimovich, Ombudsman for Children in Tomsk Oblast will present the annual report on protection of the rights and legitimate interests of children in Tomsk Oblast.
We are going to approve the Code of Deputy Conduct and the regulations on the standing commission for deputy conduct. All this is implemented to achieve the main goal of turning the regional parliament into an exemplary ground for meaningful discussions and efficient work.
