Interview with the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic

The PMR Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic closed the III session of the VII convocation on July 13. Alexander Korshunov, Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, spoke about all aspects of the work of the legislative body in the first half of the year in a long interview to the press service.

SUMMARY OF THE III SESSION OF THE VII CONVENTION OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE PRIDNESTROVIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC

"I positively assess the work of the deputies. The Supreme Council held 22 meetings, including one extraordinary. 39 meetings of the presidium. 326 legislative initiatives were submitted to the Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic for consideration from the subjects of the right of legislative initiative "The President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic submitted 40 legislations, 23 of them are in the mode of legislative necessity from January 2022 to July 2022. It is important to note that such legislations must be considered in a fairly short time. The Supreme Council coped with these deadlines and verified decisions were made.

The deputies initiated 114 legislations. This is a good enough indicator. The Parliament considered 603 questions in total. 187 laws have been signed and officially published.

I would single out a number of new (basic) laws of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic of the adopted ones. First of all, this is Part IV of the Civil Code, which regulates relations in the field of intellectual property, the State Target Program for the Development of the Ameliorative Complex. We have developed and adopted two laws related to the support of our economic agents in connection with external economic and political conditions. A law on support for refugees from Ukraine was also adopted.

MOST IMPORTANT LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES

The Supreme Council of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic as a whole, committees and deputies of the Supreme Council in their activities are guided by the adoption and consideration of legislations that develop and support the economy of our republic, legislations aimed at increasing the revenue side of the budget and, as a result, improving the standard of living of our citizens in various areas - social, educational, cultural and economic of course.

BUDGET: REDISTRIBUTION OF BALANCES AND OPTIMIZATION OF COSTS

Important and great work was carried out on budget issues. Literally a few months ago, we adopted a fairly large law-in-draft on the budget. It was connected with the determination of the balances of financial resources as of January 1, 2022, with the redistribution of these balances, the creation of reserves to finance one direction or another. A large law-in-draft was considered on introducing changes to the budget just recently, which is associated with negative forecast indicators of the budget revenues. It was necessary to find additional reserves, reducing costs. The total amount of optimization amounted to about 380 million rubles. I will say that this is not an easy job, and together with the Government and the President, the parliamentarians found a compromise and a balanced formula, according to which these costs were optimized. It should be noted that the optimization should not, in our opinion, affect social articles. The state administration bodies coped with this task: the optimization did not affect socially significant articles. This suggests that the pensions, benefits and salaries planned for 2022 will be paid in full and on time.

BUDGET CODE AND POWERS OF THE OMBUDSMAN

The deputies developed and adopted the Budget Code of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic in the first reading. Preliminary work was carried out during the year, it was constructive. State administration bodies were involved in various areas, including the Prosecutor's Office, the Accounts Chamber, and the Government. We consider that the result of the work is positive. The difference between the Budget Code and the current budget legislation, which today regulates several laws, is that it is a single codified act in the legal field of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. This will enable more efficient budget planning. The rights and obligations of the budgetary process in addition will be clearly defined. There is responsibility for violation of budget legislation, one of the elements.

The Supreme Council expanded the powers of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Pridnestrovie, which will allow the Ombudsman to more effectively protect the rights of Pridnestrovians.

THE SUPREME COUNCIL ANALYZES THE LEGISLATION

The Supreme Council is not only working on legislations, but also preliminary work on the study of certain processes, as well as analytical work. Not only the Pridnestrovian legislation is being studied, but also the legislation of other countries: the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan, many countries in which there are positive solutions in a number of areas. We are trying to project all new elements of legal structures, if they have a positive impact on the lives of our citizens, into the legal field of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and accept them. There are rough edges in our current legislation of course, but this is ongoing work and we, parliamentarians, are working in these areas and studying certain conflicts of law. For example, I want to note that today at the final stage (also the work lasted about a year) a package of legislations to change the current bankruptcy legislation. The law-in-draft has already been drafted and is being studied by committees and the legal department.

LAWS ON SOCIAL SUPPORT OF CITIZENS AND IN THE SPHERE OF HEALTH CARE

It is worth noting of the adopted laws on social support the expansion of a number of benefits under various programs - loans for defenders, the purchase of housing for young families, and others. Widows of participants in the protection of the PMR and Afghans will be able to retain the right to a preferential line for housing. Previously, this queue was lost after the death of the defender. It is important.

People who are preparing to retire by age will now be able to apply in advance, 1 month in advance, to submit documents for verification for the appointment of a pension, and they can use all pension benefits from the moment they become eligible for a well-deserved rest. The situation of children who were left without parents was improved. For example, until orphans receive their own housing under the current state program, state administrations will look for opportunities to provide housing or compensate for rent. The terms of benefits for students from the category of children who have lost their breadwinner have been extended.

It is important to note that the amount of funding for the treatment of our citizens outside of Pridnestrovie has been increased several times in the case when surgical interventions are needed, which we do not do. The amounts are tens of millions of rubles. According to the President, and the Supreme Council, and the Government, we save the lives of our citizens in this way. A very important point is also the inclusion of new vaccinations in the immunization calendar. This is necessary to preserve the health of the nation and will require additional funding this year.

LAWS FOR SETTLEMENT OF RELATIONS IN THE SPHERE OF HUSAL AND Utilities

Regarding the support of economic facilities, we have already said that 2 new laws have been adopted. The Supreme Council is also involved in supporting housing cooperatives. A number of regulations have been adopted in this area. 50% of the votes plus one vote of the owners are required to make decisions on managing the house now. The volume of reporting has been reduced for housing cooperatives that will allow more efficient management of the house. Let me remind you that the Supreme Council decided to establish the boundaries of the division for the operation of engineering networks and the transition to individual accounting in cooperation with enterprises in the sphere of natural monopolies in order to support cooperatives earlier. The issue of “abandons” (buildings) moved forward within the framework of the spring session. The rights of state administrations to work with abandoned non-residential premises were expanded at the first stage. Work in this direction will continue.

LEGISLATIVE SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS DUE TO DROUGHT AND DUE TO UNSTABLE ECONOMIC SITUATION IN THE WORLD

A new state program to support the reclamation complex has been adopted. The severe drought in 2020 and the situation this year show that this is very important to support farmers today. Water is needed for a good harvest, and without supplying the crop fields with water, it is hardly possible to achieve positive results.

Certain laws were adopted that help them both in logistics and in interaction with the Republic of Moldova to support economic agents. All these challenges of this year reduce the possibilities of economic agents and according to forecasts as a result we will have shortfalls in the budget. I have already spoken about the issues of optimizing the law on the republican budget, and these changes were adopted through joint efforts, where we corrected all the figures and saved all social obligations.

The well-being of our citizens depends on what our economy will be like, so the Supreme Council pays a lot of attention to improving legislation to support industrial enterprises. First of all, these are exporting enterprises, organizations in various fields and individual entrepreneurs, of course. Laws, in our opinion, should work not only to collect tax deductions from enterprises and entrepreneurs, but also give them the opportunity to work and earn in such difficult conditions: either in connection with the pandemic, or in connection with events in the world.

INTERACTION WITH EXECUTIVE AUTHORITIES

Constructive interaction has been established at all levels of state and municipal government today. Ideal models of interaction do not exist, they exist only in theory of course. There will always be rough edges, but we consider that this is normal and we try to find a compromise on any issue that is discussed at any level.

I can say based on the results of work over the past 2-3 months that on all issues and on all points, we find optimal solutions with the Government and the President, despite the fact, that there are different points of view and different approaches to resolving a particular issue.

ASSESSMENT OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE PMR OF THE SITUATION IN MOLDOVA: RE-ARMAMENT, STATEMENTS OF THE LEADERSHIP ON THE SUPPLY OF LETHAL WEAPONS

The Supreme Council is concerned about the situation that is developing around Pridnestrovie, in Moldova in particular. A number of statements by the leadership of the neighboring country are alarming. The Pridnestrovian people remember the years of hostilities and large-scale military aggression that began 30 years ago. The leadership of Moldova stated that they were not aggressive at that time and the Moldovan parliament even decided not to attack Pridnestrovie. An attack was made on the PMR just a day or two later.

Pridnestrovie is a peaceful, multinational state. Many nationalities live on the territory of the PMR, all live in peace and harmony. We help the whole world, including refugees. We are friendly to all guests who come to our country, we are ready to talk about Pridnestrovie and show. The republic has changed and we have something to show today.

We are determined to solve the Moldovan-Pridnestrovian settlement only by peaceful means, at the negotiating table. What we talk about on all platforms, in all formats. We do not change our position.

THE SUPERIOR COUNCIL OF THE PMR ADOPTED A STATEMENT ON THE SITUATION AROUND PRIDNESTROVIE

The Supreme Council deputies observe and track the information that comes from various sources in the official media. The situation indeed became tense after the speeches of a number of officials. Our voters, Pridnestrovians, are concerned about the situation, statements that allegedly Pridnestrovie wants to attack or that Pridnestrovie needs to be attacked. The deputies could not stand aside and not respond to such statements of course. The Supreme Council in this regard issued an appeal to the guarantor countries, participants in the "5 + 2" format, with placement in the media – so that the entire world community knows what the Pridnestrovian people want. The Pridnestrovian people want peace!

The statement of the Supreme Council clearly stated that Pridnestrovie does not plan to attack anyone, we are a peace-loving state, we want to live in peace and be friends with all countries.

We hope that it reached the addressees.

WORK OF THE RUSSIAN CONSULATE POINT IN TIRASPOL AND PROBLEMS WITH THE REGISTRATION OF PASSPORTS AND CITIZENSHIP

The Supreme Council is aware of the problem of Pridnestrovians with foreign passports. Moreover, we have been working on this issue for more than a year with deputies and with the leadership of the State Duma. They are aware of this problem. The Russian parliamentarians repeatedly appealed to the responsible authorities of Russia. Let me remind you that Andrei Rudenko, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, came to see us in Pridnestrovie personally that there are problems in the work of the consular post at the request of the State Duma deputies. There were statements by officials that the work of the consular post would be strengthened. The situation has not changed yet unfortunately. A large number of Pridnestrovians who have Russian citizenship cannot leave the republic due to the fact that the documents have expired.

The topic was recently raised again by Konstantin Zatulin at the plenary session of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin instructed to send a request to the Russian Foreign Ministry. I know that the Commissioner for Human Rights in Russia Tatyana Moskalkova is also concerned about the situation in Pridnestrovie. The Supreme Council very much hopes that the work of the consular post in Tiraspol will soon resume in a more familiar format and all Pridnestrovians will be able to receive and renew their documents.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TASKS SET BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE of the PRIDNESTROVIAN MOLDAVIAN REPUBLIC IN THE ANNUAL MESSAGE TO THE AUTHORITIES FOR 2022

Every year, the President of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic sets tasks for state administration bodies. The Supreme Council is no exception. I can say with satisfaction that practically all the points of the President's message, which were defined in January, have either been completed or are in the process of completion.

I repeat that effective and fruitful work has been done in particular in the interaction of the deputy corps with the executive bodies of state power:

- thus, the right of the widows of participants in the hostilities to defend the republic, who were registered in need of better housing conditions, to remain in the preferential queue has been preserved;

- tariffs for water supply for irrigation purposes have been regulated at the legislative level;

- the law on public procurement is being improved, which allows for greater transparency in public procurement. Practice has shown that the law is effective and the savings from using competitive methods to determine the supplier at the end of 2021 vary at the level of about 10.5 million rubles. That is, the state, using the norms of the current legislation, saved 10 million only on the procedures and formats for public procurement;

- the Budget Code was developed and adopted in the first reading;

- work was underway to create a law on the register of state property;

- a law was adopted that regulates the rules of the game for determining economically justified tariffs. This is directly related to the tariff policy in the field of natural monopoly enterprises, that is, our public services. The goal is to limit the unreasonable increase in regulated prices for electricity, water, heat and gas.

The Supreme Council continues legislative work on a phased transition to the organization of primary medical care on the principle of a general practitioner (family doctor).

There are still many issues to be discussed and decisions to be made of course. There is still an autumn session ahead, and we are sure that all the issues that we plan to consider and discuss will definitely be accepted".