MOSCOW, July 20 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday gathered in the Kremlin representatives of the four State Duma factions after the end of the spring session of the lower house of parliament. The head of state gave a positive assessment to the high-profile laws passed by the lawmakers and asked them not to inflate spending.
Vladimir Putin stressed that autumn is coming soon, the MPs will have to draw up a three-year budget, and the world economy in the meantime is experiencing “turbulence,” writes RBC Daily. Many countries are cutting social spending: the Christmas bonuses in Spain are crossed out and strikes are looming, and the number of suicides in Italy has doubled. “We, fortunately, do not do anything of the kind, moreover, we index the welfare payments,” the president told the parliamentarians. But it is bad to inflate the budget needlessly, he tried to restrain the appetites of the parliamentarians. “Otherwise, tomorrow we will have to cut back sharply on spending,” Putin referred to the plight of recently prosperous Europe. “It is necessary to fulfil the promises, but without the collapse of the budget.”
Summing up the spring session of the State Duma, dubbed by house speaker Sergei Naryshkin the “session of political modernization,” Vladimir Putin positively assessed the laws adopted by the parliamentarians, Komsomolskaya Pravda writes. “Everything that happens is caused by the changing realities of our life. Let me repeat: I think that everything was done correctly, you need to adequately put into practice the decisions that were taken and fill the passed laws with civilized law enforcement practices, based on the laws of the Russian Federation,” the president stressed.
However, Vladimir Putin said that “there is nothing frozen or solidified like reinforced concrete” in the country, Rossiiskaya Gazeta emphasizes. According to him, it will be possible to adopt amendments to the new laws after the analysis of the law enforcement practice, including the law on political parties. “I also had doubts about whether it is worthwhile to peddle,” the head of state commented. But to those, who want to express their position, it is necessary to give a simple way to do it, without “rallying around squares.” “Let’s see how this would work,” Vladimir Putin stressed.
Certainly, the Duma members were not going to limit themselves to summing up the results of the parliamentary session at the meeting with the head of state, Moskovsky Komsomolets writes. Members of the United Russia party also planned to discuss the budget for the next fiscal year, the Communists - to propose to expand the format of the announcement of the Budget Message. Members of A Just Russia intended to discuss “all the outrageous laws:” on non-profit organizations, on rallies, on criminal sanctions for defamation. The Liberal Democrats were willing to talk about everything. Even about the election of the new head of the Russian Football Union.