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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 May 1999 Issue No. 430 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 May 1999 Issue No. 430
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Supplement Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Yeltsin triumphs yet again
By Abdel-Malek KhalilLast week, Russian President Boris Yeltsin comfortably survived a Communist-led attempt by the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, to impeach him following his sudden dismissal of former premier Yevgeny Primakov.
On Monday, Sergei Stepashin, Yeltsin's nominee to take over as prime minister, outlined his economic plans to the upper house, the Federation Council. The International Monetary Fund is insisting that the Russian parliament accept its blueprint for economic reform, including a number of drastic measures, as a precondition for the resumption of loan payments suspended in the wake of the financial crisis that erupted in Russia last August.
Premier-designate Stepashin, a long-standing ally of Yeltsin's, is the sixth person to serve under the Russian president in this role, and the fourth in just over a year. Economic reform will top his agenda. Stepashin, interior minister in Primakov's outgoing cabinet, pledged to take the strategic decisions necessary to restructure the economy, in particular the manufacturing sector. Previous Yeltsin-nominated reformists had tended to favour the financial sector over industrial production.
Stepashin on Monday told the Federation Council that a more aggressive policy was needed to rescue the ailing Russian economy. He promised to crack down on corruption and financial crime. However, observers note that similar promises have been made in the past, without preventing the problems in question swelling to ever greater proportions. However, Stepashin was undaunted by this disappointing precedent. The move toward economic and political stability will be continued and more than just continued, he pledged, as he promised to go on the attack in addressing the spread of criminality.
Unsurprisingly, the Federation Council, which is composed of regional governors and provincial leaders, overwhelmingly approved of Stepashin, much to Yeltsin's delight. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a member of the Federation Council and one of Russia's most experienced and well-respected politicians, said Stepashin was clearly the best candidate for the job.
Federation Council leader Yegor Stroyev concurred. Stroyev said he backed Stepashin in the same way he would back a champion stallion, describing him as a sleek new draught horse, the sixth in a row to come out of the tsar's stables and be put on show. "I want this draught horse to succeed," Stroyev added. Even Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov grudgingly gave his consent to the appointment, commenting that Yeltsin had presented the house with a fait accompli, but that despite that, Stepashin was indeed a suitable candidate.
However, the transitional nature of the Stepashin administration must not be overlooked. The new premier himself conceded that his main aim is to guarantee a smooth transition to the next presidency. It will be an essentially technical cabinet. For as Vladimir Ryzhkov, head of the centrist Our Home is Russia Party, one of the four main political parties in the Duma, pointed out, no government can hope to enforce an effective economic policy in the present conditions.
Many of Russia's parliamentarians were furious at Yeltsin for firing Primakov, who had been a popular and highly-acclaimed premier. But they were equally determined not to block Stepashin simply to spite Yeltsin. The new premier has, after all, made it clear that he is on the war path against the country's robber barons, and has pledged to retrieve at least some of the billions of dollars of Russian money that has been spirited out of the country in recent years. His biggest challenge, however, will be to convince the Duma of the necessity of passing a package of fiscal reform bills demanded by the IMF as a condition for resumption of the promised loan. For on this matter, not only the Communists, but the other parties too, are determined not to give an inch.
