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Conferences
RECOMMENDATIONS of the International science-and-practice conference "BUDGET POLICY OF REGIONS, CITIES, COMMUNES IN NORTHERN EUROPE” (Russia, Republic of Karelia, Petrozavodsk, March 22-23, 2001)
Having discussed the problem of budget policy of regions, cities and communes in Northern Europe, the conference's participants admit the following: in the Russian Federation there is a development of attitude toward budget as to an instrument of market economy. A certain practical experience of budget planning has been acquired. The corresponding legislation norms are being developed; thus, allowing to execute the budget planning with respect to the specific realities of this country. Attempts are being made to construct a system of relations among the Federation , its subjects and bodies of local self-government. A system that would be based upon transparent rules of economic policy.During the last two years the budget process in the subjects of the Northwestern Federal District has been developing strictly according to the Budget Code of the Russian federation. There are integration processes in the territory of the Russia's Northwest within the Northwestern Inter-Parliament Association and Association of Economic Co-operation of the Northwestern Territories of Russia as well as the District. Legislative and executive bodies of federal power in the republics and regions, bodies of local self-government in the territory of the District develop international contacts in the sphere of budget policy with Nordic countries - Finland, Sweden, Norway. Underway is the process of forming reliable and accessible information resources for all levels of legislative and executive power, for scientists, university teachers and common citizens. At the same time, the conference's participants have to acknowledge the fact that in the Russian federation the budget has not yet become a civilised form of monetary relations between the Federation, its subjects and bodies of local self-government. The existing practice is abundant with subjective approach opposes the interests of local self-government bodies, subjects (regions, republics, etc.), and Federation as a whole. There is a lack of transparency in budgets of all levels, which does not allow to use the budget as means of forming the positive expectations of economic subjects. The current budget process is not directed at functioning in a mid- and long-term perspective.
In order to provide for and improve the regional and local budget process in the European North of Russia the International science-and-practice conference "BUDGET POLICY OF REGIONS, CITIES, COMMUNES IN NORTHERN EUROPE" recommends: 1. To the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation: 1.1. To hasten the development and publishing of the Comments to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation. 1.2. To introduce supplements to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation in parts concerning: - the order of compiling budget projects for subjects of the Russian Federation; - differentiation and assignation of income sources among the Federal, regional and local budgets; - co-ordination, assignation and distribution of expenses of joint jurisdiction of the Russian Federation and subjects of the Russian federation. 1.3. To hasten the ratification of the following Federal Laws: - 'On Minimal Federal Social standards'; - 'On the Order and Terms of Forming the Development Budgets in the Subjects of the Russian Federation'; - 'On Common Principles of Budget Process in the Self-Governed Territories of the Subjects of the Russian Federation'; - 'On the Order of Providing and Calculating Subventions for the Budgets of the Subjects of the Russian federation';
1.4. To study the issue of a possible multistage transfer to a two-, later, three-year advanced practice of preparing projects of Federal budgets.
2. 2.1. To develop and to ratify: 1) methodological principles of compiling and executing budgets of the subjects of the Russian Federation and of the local budgets; 2) norms of minimal budget security, financial expenses of providing Federal services; 3) the order of forming, providing for, and calculating of specific financial aid from the funds supporting subjects of the Russian Federation and funds of financial support for local budgets; as well as the order of granting authority of forming budget and extra-budget funds in the budgets of the Russian Federation subjects and local budgets. 2. 2. To study and to expand the experience of forming transparent budgets on the level of subjects of the Russian Federation (City of St.-Petersburg, Republic of Karelia).
3. To Federal and regional bodies of Federal Statistics to develop the data for budget monitoring on the regional level and level of local self-government with future use of these indicators to the Federal system of statistical accounts.
4. To legislative and executive bodies of Federal authority in the subjects, bodies of local self-government in the Northwestern Federal District:4.1. To start the work on forming the transparency of budgets, which will eventually allow to increase the degree of trust among the economic subjects of corresponding levels. 4.2. To introduce the use of modern information technologies in order to increase the transparency of budget process on all levels of authority; i.e., to update the Web-sites:- of legislative bodies - Laws on budgets and supplements to them; - of executive bodies - data on quarterly execution of budgets. 4.3. To support the arrangement of public budget hearings in order to increase the trust of population towards the bodies of Federal power and to the local self-government. 5. To higher educational establishments and scientific organisations of the Northwestern Federal District:5.1. To extend the list of courses on economics taught within the regional component of Federal standard by means of courses that study the budget process on the level of the subject of the Russian Federation and of the local self-government. 5.2. To step up the research work on the matters of budget policy and inter-budget relations on three levels: Federation -region - local self-government; to continue the forming of information resources for budget monitoring within the Web -portal Open Budget. Northwest of Russia. (http://openbudget.karelia.ru). 5.3. To study and sum up the theory and practice of budget process in countries with effective market economy (primarily, in the Nordic countries - Finland, Sweden, and Norway) in order to use that experience in Russian practice of establishing methods of involving public institutions in the budget process.
The participants of the International science-and-practice conference "BUDGET POLICY OF REGIONS, CITIES, COMMUNES IN NORTHERN EUROPE" admit the importance of annual conducting of similar conferences in the Northwestern Federal District with further inclusion of them into the arrangements plans of Northwestern Inter-Parliament Association and Association of Economic Co-operation of the Northwestern Territories of Russia. 
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