Union Property Agreement Being Ratified

The difficult moments of signing the agreement on Union property were connected with the fact that the Russian party hadn’t ratified two Belarus-Russia agreements, that were signed in 2006: the agreements on providing medical aid and securing equal rights of the citizens of Belarus and Russia for free movement, choice of residence on the territories of the Union State’s member-states. Alexander Surikov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Belarus, aired this opinion during a recent press conference.

The difficult moments of signing the agreement on Union property were connected with the fact that the Russian party hadn’t ratified two Belarus-Russia agreements, that were signed in 2006: the agreements on providing medical aid and securing equal rights of the citizens of Belarus and Russia for free movement, choice of residence on the territories of the Union State’s member-states. Alexander Surikov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Belarus, aired this opinion during a recent press conference.

The agreement in the field of health protection has already been ratified and is now to be signed by the President, while the agreement on free movement, in the opinion of Mr. Surikov, can be considered by the State Duma in the first half of 2008. Consequently, all barriers on the way to ratification of the agreement on Union property by the Belarusian party will be eliminated.

Still, Oleg Tolkachev, Chairperson of the Commission for Economic Policy of the Parliamentary Assembly of Belarus-Russia Union State thinks that mere official procedures, necessary for approving the agreement, are not enough for beginning of efficient work. In his words, it is essential to make a calculation of the Union property, it means establishing a corresponding body within the framework of the Government or a related Committee. The problem is that the calculation regulations are different in Belarus and Russia . Two departments deal with this matter in the Russian Federation – the Russian Registration Department and the Russian Real Estate Department, so it is important to agree upon the rules of accounting the Union property.

Since there is no Union State’s tax legislation as such (while the two countries’ experts are talking about unifying national tax systems) the issue of tax load, applied to the Union property, also needs to be solved. According to Mr. Tolkachev, today the Standing Committee of the Union State could work on the accounting the Union property, but it is not authorized to do that.

So, these questions should be considered within the Constitution field, the responsible body should be named clearly and definitely, a law on the regulations of accounting, registering and use of property should be adopted. But it is impossible to start solving this core questions without the Constitution Act, - believes the head of the Commission for Economic Policy. So, the vicious circle in the area of the Union State’s property cannot be broken without political will, - believes the parliamentarian.