MP: Cutting the number of Duma committees helps to push through Kremlin-backed bills

Yesterday, the Russian Duma’s “Narodny Deputat” (the People’s Deputy) group introduced a bill offering to cut the number of the Duma committees from 28 to 12, which implies their restructuring and enlargement. The bill, in its initiators’ view, is meant to considerably improve the work of the lower house and to optimize its budget. Yet, not all the deputies liked the bill. Communist and liberal Yabloko factions vigorously oppose the idea. Valeri Ostanin, the Yabloko faction’s deputy chief, agreed to comment on the above initiative for PAVDA.RU. In particular, he said the following. “The proposal put forward by the Narodny Deputat faction runs counter to the Russian State Duma’s regulations which have the status of a federal law. However, the Duma is very likely to approve the idea of the committees’ enlargement, even if it comes to altering the regulations. I mean the associations which have formed an interfaction coalition, that is, Yedinstvo (Unity), OVR (Fatherland-All Russia), Narodny Deputat, and the Russian Regions. Considerations of the moment are sure to be found here. At the same time, it is an opportunity for a new, “power-connected,” coalition to test its potential. Cutting the number of the Duma committees will pave the way for a rapid passing through the parliament of bills needed for the cabinet and the President.

Recorded by SERGEI STEPHANOV PRAVDA.RU