On January 16, the State Duma approved the candidacy of Vladimir Mishustin for the post of chairman of the Russian government. 383 deputies spoke in support of the head of the Federal Tax Service, 41 abstained, no one voted against. After that, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved him as prime minister.

Even before voting in the State Duma, Mishustin addressed the deputies of the lower house of parliament. He spoke about the goals and objectives facing the future composition of the Cabinet of Ministers, after which he answered questions from parliamentarians.

“The president set a fast pace by announcing the message to the Federal Assembly at the first, by the way, full-time week of 2020. The tasks that are set in the message give national projects even deeper meaning and link them into a single large-scale system program. I well understand that the message that was voiced yesterday must be perceived primarily as a program of social justice based on our traditional values, addressed to people, their most pressing problems, ”Mishustin said, reading out his report“ On the program of the main directions of the future government’s activities. ”

According to him, “the care of children, of the family, the growth of their prosperity and improving the quality of life” is at the forefront. He pointed out that "macroeconomic stability and a surplus budget" provide financial opportunities for the implementation of all the tasks set by the president. In total, in the next four years, about 4 trillion rubles will be needed for these purposes, of which 450 billion will be allocated for 2020.

“At the same time, we need to immediately and efficiently prepare all the legislative acts that are necessary and on which this work will be conducted. This work has already begun in conjunction with parliament. Here I count on your support, dear deputies of the State Duma, ”he emphasized.

Speaking about increasing real incomes of citizens, Mishustin pointed out the need to launch a “new investment cycle”. For this, according to the new prime minister, it is necessary to adopt a package of bills on the protection and promotion of investment and achieve their widespread work.

“We need to continue to remove excessive administrative barriers, to effectively carry out and complete the reform of control and oversight activities,” he added.

Speaking about social assistance, Mishustin announced the need to make it targeted. According to him, the automatic distribution of benefits, which is currently in force, makes it difficult to clearly track how the funds allocated for them are spent.

“It is important to make socially targeted assistance when we can generate income for households and families and consider, if you like, the federal formula for poverty, which then, because the regions have a different basket and a different concept of poverty, through social contracts, bring the targeted consumer to ", - he said.

  • President Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Mishustin
  • © Sputnik / Alexey Nikolskiy / Kremlin via REUTERS

According to him, the government should focus on this work. The law on a unified database of the population, adopted by the State Duma in the first reading in the fall of 2019, should help in achieving the goal.

Along with this, Mishustin opposed the initiative to write off the credit debts of the population, since such practice can lead to negative consequences, in particular, “a whole wave of bankruptcies”.

Business and Economics

However, Mishustin considers it important to improve the business climate. According to him, businessmen should feel protected in order to develop their business and create new jobs.

“It is necessary, first of all, to stimulate the growth of investments, this is very important ... To return, maybe, the lost trust between the government and business, to seriously talk about what is in the way, to remove costs, excessive pressure, if any,” said prime.

According to him, for the further development and growth of GDP, it is necessary to ensure the growth of investments, including due to the high-quality implementation of national projects.

“They were invented for this purpose - to stimulate investment growth. And besides this, it is possible to spend, perhaps, the money of the National Welfare Fund on investments in infrastructure paid off, ”Mishustin explained.

In addition, one of the most important tasks of the Central Bank will be to provide the country with "long" money, including for the growth of investment attractiveness.

Digitalization

Along with this, Mishustin announced plans to “make a real breakthrough in the digitalization of the real sector” due to the national project “Digital Economy” and to promote domestic developments in this area. According to him, it is necessary to stimulate technological development.

“Russia has wonderful solutions and its platforms, it is very important in this sense to help our smart guys who create these digital platforms, and help with export, determining where we can push and where to develop,” he said.

According to him, the Russian government needs to become a digital platform that will help people. In this regard, he gave an example of his work in the Federal Tax Service.

"We tried, our main slogan was:" To be inconspicuous, so as not to interfere with the business of creating new added value. " And if I said: “You don’t notice us,” then that’s good, ”Mishustin explained.

Defense industry

Another priority of the work of the new government should be the further development of the defense complex of Russia. According to Mikhail Mishustin, the allocated funds should work for the benefit of the Russian economy and be aimed at the development of domestic industry, including its high-tech industries.

He emphasized the importance of normalizing the financial situation of organizations involved in the defense sector, actively diversifying defense industry enterprises and increasing the output of civilian high-tech products.

“Enterprises already producing such products are successfully operating in the Russian military-industrial complex. Its further development, without a doubt, is our priority, ”Mishustin said.

April report

Mikhail Mishustin added that under his leadership the new composition of the government will be focused on "close partnership" with the State Duma, factions and the Federation Council. He also assured parliamentarians that all Cabinet members "will be personally responsible for achieving national development goals."

He said that in three months he would report to the State Duma about the direction taken by his government in the work.

“I want to assure you that I will be preparing for April in order to familiarize you in more detail with the course that the Government of the Russian Federation will take. And I hope you approve it, ”he explained.

After the approval of his candidacy, Mishustin said that "in the near future" he will present his list of candidates for ministers. At the same time on Friday, January 17, he will meet with his predecessor Dmitry Medvedev.

“Must take care of the harmonious development of Russia”

According to Sergey Kalashnikov, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, it will be possible to talk about the direction of the government’s activities after the appointment of the ministers, since “there are many nuances that depend on each person’s personality”.

“My opinion is very simple, I think it coincides with the point of view of many: you cannot understand the taste of a fruit until you bite it,” Kalashnikov explained.

At the same time, he noted that Mikhail Mishustin, heading the Federal Tax Service, "really did a lot."

As the head of the political expert group, Konstantin Kalachev, noted, during his speech to the deputies the new Prime Minister of Russia was now very restrained.

“For him, national projects, the digital economy and the removal of barriers to business will be priority. There are no political claims against him from the deputies. He gives the impression of a good administrator, manager, technocrat, person of business, who, in the first place, considers it necessary to improve the quality of public administration through greater organization, discipline, control, accounting and new technologies, ”the source said.

According to political analyst Sergei Mikheev, the main task of Mikhail Mishustin at the head of the government will be to ensure the use of tools that will achieve his goals.

“It would be right for his approaches to be as deideologized and dogmatic as possible, neither the liberal-market paradigm nor the state-planned one should be at the forefront here. In my personal opinion, the head of government should take care of the harmonious development of the country in the economy, create the maximum number of jobs for citizens of Russia, create formats for the realization of people, so that they have the opportunity to receive education and do what they love, while receiving a decent salary "He said in a conversation with RT.

In turn, the director of the Center for Political Conjuncture Alexei Chesnakov noted that it is not worthwhile to express both laudatory and negative comments on the new head of government, since it remains to be seen how his work system will be built.

“The prospects for Mishustin’s work will depend on how quickly and how efficiently the cabinet begins to implement the president’s message. Putin has set clear goals for the authorities as a whole and for society to improve the welfare of citizens. Judging by Mishustin’s speech in the State Duma, he very well understands these tasks and knows how to implement them. It is necessary to enable the government to realize that all the appointments of all ministers take place and this works as a single team. Give them time so that they can “accelerate” for the breakthrough that the president spoke about. And only after that it is already to evaluate prospects and opportunities, ”the expert noted in an interview with RT.