Plan Afoot to Ax 40 Federal Bodies [Russia]

Moscow Times ^ | 2 April 2003 | Valeria Korchagina

[Stavka2]

The number of ministries and other federal bodies with similar powers would be slashed from 56 to 15 or 17 under a plan being drafted by the Economic Development and Trade Ministry, the ministry said Tuesday.

A proposal to dissolve at least three governmental bodies has already been forwarded to the Cabinet, Economic Development and Trade Deputy Minister Mikhail Dmitriyev was quoted by news agencies as saying.

The ministry refused to name the three federal bodies it wants to eliminate or even identify whether they are ministries, committees, agencies, services or inspectorates -- the five main classifications of federal bodies.

"There are purely ethical reasons for this: What if the proposal is dismissed?" a ministry spokeswoman said.

President Vladimir Putin has called upon the Cabinet to come up with proposals to slash the federal government's notoriously bloated bureaucracy, which currently employs more than 2 million people. In addition to the economic ministry, the government's own apparatus is also drafting a plan.

Although he didn't name which three bodies his ministry is suggesting be eliminated first, Dmitriyev did say that all but 18 of the 500 people they collectively employ should be retained. He also said the move would free up 80 percent of the office space currently occupied by these bodies.

However, he noted that axing two or three agencies at a time is not his ministry's strategy for streamlining the federal government. Rather, he said, a complete overhaul should be carried out in an orchestrated fashion.

Exactly how the economic ministry thinks this should be done is still being debated. But a final plan, which will detail which federal bodies will stay and how they should function, will be ready by the end of the year, Dmitriyev said.

The ministry wants to divide federal bodies into a three-tier hierarchy, with the government at the top, several ministries in the middle and "the 'departments' that are not part of the government" at the bottom, he said.

The new system is aimed not only at getting rid of the overlapping functions and the excessive powers some have, but also at boosting the overall efficiency of governing by simplifying procedures for introducing new regulations.

Many laws cannot be realized the way it is now, Dmitriyev said. For example, he said, a law allowing people to invest a part of their pensions was passed six months ago, but cannot be implemented without 10 new government regulations and only one or two have been signed.

Putin first called for comprehensive administrative reform in 2001 and last year said he wanted it done by the end of 2003. It appears unlikely that the government will be able to reform itself by the end of this year, but Putin has managed to make some progress on overhauling the law enforcement complex.

Last month he did away with the Tax Police, giving most of its functions to the Interior Ministry. He also put the Border Guards under the control of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, and dissolved the Federal Agency for Government Communications and Information, or FAPSI, whose functions were absorbed by the FSB and the Defense Ministry.

[Stavka2]

Slashing the size of government, just another of Putin's "communist" credentials...that and flat taxes, low corporate taxes, gun ownership, property rights, jury trials....hell, Carl Marx would be proud.

[blau993]

The title of this article got me all excited. Then I realized it was the Russian government they were talking about.

[jjm2111]

"The title of this article got me all excited. Then I realized it was the Russian government they were talking about.

Yeah, me too. Can someone put Russia in brackets in the title? Wouldn't want FReepers getting too excited.

[eno_]

Don't worry. Roscoe, Kevin Curry, and all the FR statists will be by shortly to tell us "liberdopians" to go to Kommynist Russia if we don't like a federal government that is mostly illegally outside of constitutional authorizations.

[Stavka2]

Don't you realize that the Constitution is only a guideline?

[gcruse]

Ack. Me, too. Why couldn't it have been the US?
Moscow, new home of the Tenth Amendment.

[eno_]

Yes! A "living document" that declines in erudition to match the level of your average inner-city public school administrator's understanding o fthe role of government.

Must have lost my head for a moment thinking that words have fixed meanings.

Now I suppose we will read that China has expelled the operators of reeducation camps to the U.S. because they are no longer needed in China, while U.S. political correctness represents a large and expanding market for their expertise.

[Stavka2]

Hay, don't ever underestimate a good socio-programmer's demand....why the finest governments in the world employ hundreds....in these lands it's called spin.

[jjm2111]

"Why couldn't it have been the US? Moscow, new home of the Tenth Amendment."

Wouldn't that be wonderful? Rid ourselves of the dept. of education.

[CyberCowboy777]

Your ears burning?

[Roscoe]

If you've read one of his posts, you've seen them all.

[CyberCowboy777]

I happen to think it is rude to imply some position of another FReeper without pinging him/her.

[Roscoe]

I'm used to it.

[seams2me]

What are they going to "ax" them?

[Stavka2]

Hay, Moscow Times might be under suit by the ACLU to add a little ethnicity...you never know with world courts running around.

[tpaine]

"If you've read one of his posts, you've seen them all."
11 -roscoe- chants to the mirror


The most inadvertently funny thing you've said in days, roscoe.. -- Thanks for a good laugh.

[eno_]

I think Roscoe could be implemented in about 15 lines of php (which he probably thinks is a drug):

If you are against abortion and drugs, you are a Roscoe conservative.

If you think law enforcement needs serious reform, the fedgov is drawing way outside the lines, etc., you are a "liberdopian."

If you ask him if the IInd is about shooting back at a government that fits the King George profile as stated in the Declaration, he crashes and starts outputting gibberish.