Municipal reform will be carried out after the presidential elections in 2024

The draft of a new law on the general principles of local self-government (LSG) in the unified system of public authority will be adopted after the presidential elections, which will be held in March 2024. Three sources close to the presidential administration (AP) told Vedomosti about this. It was decided not to touch the working system until the end of the federal election cycle, says one of Vedomosti’s interlocutors: “People working in the LSG system interact with citizens, communicate with them, and leaving them outside the system at this stage is simply incorrect.”

Another interlocutor confirms that the State Duma and the Presidential Administration are now discussing amendments to the bill, but it is highly likely that it will be adopted after the presidential elections in 2024. This is also due to the fact that Russia launched a special operation, and four new territories were annexed, from -for this, the draft law on local self-government was postponed, adds another interlocutor.

In 2020, amendments to the Constitution consolidated the concept of a “single system of public authority”, which is a combination of state authorities and local self-government bodies. In December 2021, a law was adopted on the general principles of organizing public authorities in the constituent entities of Russia. After that, on December 16, 2021, the head of the Duma State Construction Committee, Pavel Krasheninnikov, together with a colleague from the Federation Council, Andrey Klishas, ​​introduced a draft new law on local self-government. He was supposed to complete the reform laid down by the 2020 constitutional changes.

One of the main innovations of the draft law on local self-government, in addition to the redistribution of powers between different levels of government, was the mandatory transition from a two-level system of local self-government to a single-level one. In fact, it was about the liquidation of the lower level of LSG – the settler. Experts have repeatedly said that the concept of the bill changes the system, distancing citizens from those who represent power locally. In particular, according to the concept of the bill, by 2028 all rural and urban settlements should be merged with districts into municipal or urban districts, and their councils and administrations should be liquidated.

In the first reading, the bill was promptly approved on January 25, 2022. But the deadline for submitting amendments to the second reading (Vedomosti wrote that more than 900 amendments had been received) was postponed several times and stuck on the date of May 22, 2022. The fact that the bill is seriously stalled in the State Duma and, contrary to plans, will not be adopted in 2022, Vedomosti wrote on October 11, 2022.

Amendments to the second reading are still being collected, although their flow has stopped, Krasheninnikov told Vedomosti: “Work on the bill has not been stopped, it is underway, but in a sluggish current mode. We don’t speed it up. And we will not submit it for the second reading in the spring session.” According to him, the committee monitors the formation of municipalities in new subjects: “In addition, after the adoption of the law on public authority, the competences of the regions have changed, and some of them decide for themselves whether to leave the two-level LSG system or introduce a one-level one. We are closely communicating with the regions on this topic and are monitoring the practice.”

One of the options to compensate for the consequences of the reform is the revival of territorial public self-government (TPS) and thus the involvement of people employed in local self-government in active, actually unpaid (as it is now in TPSs) work, says one of Vedomosti’s interlocutors. “Essentially, we are dealing with people who are important to maintain their status,” he notes. Another interlocutor confirms that the issue with TOSs is really being discussed now. However, it is unlikely that the activities of TOSs will somehow be activated, he says: “Giving power to the public would be rather strange.”

TPS is now understood as self-organization of citizens at their place of residence, it is carried out by holding meetings and conferences of citizens, it is necessary to register the corresponding charter of TPS. They represent the interests of the population living in the territory, ensure the implementation of decisions taken at meetings, can carry out economic activities to improve the territory and have the right to submit draft municipal legal acts to LSG bodies that are subject to consideration.

The LSG reform bears the risk of conflicts, political scientist Alexander Kynev believes: “Now most of the conflicts in Russia are of a local nature – this is garbage collection, snow removal, roads. Therefore, to come into conflict with activists is only to tease them.” At the same time, the question arises of what to offer in return, since TOC, in his opinion, is a completely grassroots story and will not be a replacement. The interlocutor, close to the administration of one of the regions, believes that Moscow will find a way to create a more manageable vertical.

So far, no consensus has been reached on the municipal reform, including with the governors, says Rostislav Turovsky, vice-president of the Center for Political Technologies: “Yes, and the issue turned out to be not the most important in Russian politics now. The reform is fundamental, it requires a thorough inventory of the powers and financial sources for each level of government.” The complete abandonment of the two levels of LSG remains a contentious issue, he adds. TOSs are of little interest to anyone, they can be used to work with local communities, but they will have to be created from above, building another vertical, the expert adds.

Chairman of the Commission on Territorial Development and Local Self-Government of the Civic Chamber Andrey Maksimov suggests that there will be no consideration of the bill before the presidential elections and it is highly likely that it will undergo serious changes: “On the eve of the meeting of the Council for the Development of Local Self-Government [с участием президента] its composition was updated, including the heads of settlements. This means that this level is considered as an element of the LSG system and has a chance for further development.” We need an inventory of issues of local importance, an assessment of the cost of their solution at each level of government, and here hasty decisions are hardly appropriate, Maximov added. “Serious reorganization of the LSG system bears administrative risks. Grassroots power is important to many managerial processes,” he says.