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Russia - What is within the power of local authorities

Russia (bbabo.net), - The State Duma adopted in the first reading a new version of the law on local self-government (LSG). From now on, it is built into a single system of public authority and is carried out in city and municipal districts, as well as intra-city territories of cities of federal significance.

A transition to a single-level system of local self-government with urban and municipal districts is envisaged (they will include the current urban and rural settlements). In addition, the responsibility of the heads of municipalities and local administrations to the governor is being increased. He can issue a warning, reprimand the head of the municipality, the head of the local administration for improper performance or non-execution of the powers delegated to them. The governor is vested with the right to single-handedly select candidates for mayor (if they are elected by local councils) and independently remove them from office.

The bill drew criticism from the parliamentary opposition. Georgy Kamnev, a deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, said that the reform "actually destroys local self-government, turning it into a grassroots level of state power, emasculating the very essence of the collectivist principle of the community." Andrey Kuznetsov, a member of the Just Russia - For Truth faction, said that governors would benefit from this reform, who "will be able to get rid of protests during the implementation of certain projects" - such as "garbage landfills, cutting down forests and parks, seizing a lake and river infrastructure. Aleksey Didenko (LDPR), Chairman of the Committee on Regional Policy and Local Self-Government, acknowledged that the bill was written "very well", but it "does not reflect the essential and key role of local self-government as a socio-political institution, as the basis of the constitutional order."

This is an eternal theme - the distribution of powers between municipalities and the regional center. Complaints about the latter are sometimes considered by the Constitutional Court (for example, in 2015, mayors of many cities complained that they were forced to remove ownerless landfills from forest fund lands, and the Constitutional Court sided with local authorities here). Mayors justify the refusal to bear improper expenses by referring to Art. 19 of the Federal Law "On the General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation". It says that the financial provision of certain state powers transferred to local governments is carried out only at the expense of subventions provided to local budgets from the relevant budgets. But the federal treasury for such subventions is not generous, as you know. It is also no secret that the powers of the municipalities do not correspond to their financial resources. In conditions when the budget is three times less than state obligations, it was not worth promising the municipal authorities broad independence at all. One of two things was required: either increase the budget, or cut government obligations to the population. Guessing which option the government might be leaning towards, the State Duma deputies once secured themselves and adopted the law "On Minimum Social Standards." How they programmed a completely deadlocked situation: the law does not order to reduce social obligations, and the treasury does not allow them to be kept intact.

Watching how local self-government works, it is difficult to get rid of the feeling of historical déjà vu. After all, back in 1864, the organization of local self-government was fixed in Russia by the regulation on zemstvo institutions and city regulations: the zemstvo and city authorities were separated from the state. But thirty years later, this practice had to be revised for the reasons set forth in the explanatory note to the draft of the new zemstvo regulation, developed under the leadership of Count Tolstoy: agreement in the actions of government and zemstvo authorities, and often a clear antagonism between them.

We observe this same antagonism in recent Russian history. Attempts to overcome it have been made for more than a year. And on paper it looks great. Municipal formations are given the right to collect taxes, maintain the police, schools, hospitals at their own expense... But without making appropriate amendments to the Tax and Budget Codes, the municipalities will not see this money. There will be a constant clash of their financial weakness with the constitutionally proclaimed independence of local authorities from the state.

It doesn't matter to the average citizen what authority - municipal or state - provides him with everything he needsBy acquiring powers and commensurate responsibility not secured by the local treasury, mayors have become even more vulnerable to criticism from the population. To the ordinary inhabitant it does not matter which authority - municipal or state - provides him with water and heat, a polyclinic and a stadium, a cinema hall and a bus route. He does not divide the territory of his dwelling into the state and the municipality and does not want to listen to the mayor's explanations that the reason for the domestic and social disorder of this very territory is the meager local budget. By the way, this is also why many regions have refused to elect mayors by direct voting. As long as the municipal treasury is poor, citizens do not care whether the city head is elected or appointed.

With the transition to a single-level system of LSG, it is unlikely that democracy will increase in relations between the municipality and the regional center, but the mayor's powers will at least be financially strengthened.

Russia - What is within the power of local authorities