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We have an agency for young people everywhere
On Tuesday, the State Duma approved in the first reading a bill on the coordination of state youth policy. Unlike the government, the deputies reacted favorably to the document's proposed significant expansion of the powers of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), hoping that the agency will be more precise and restrained in assessing its current and future work.
A group of deputies and senators from all factions, led by the chairman of the relevant State Duma committee, Artem Metelev (United Russia), introduced large-scale amendments to the "Law on Youth Policy" to the State Duma on September 11. Among other things, they proposed streamlining the management of youth policy, assigning one of the key roles in this process to Rosmolodezh.
Meanwhile, the government has already expressed its opinion on this project twice – before and after it was submitted to parliament. The White House generally supported the initiative, paying special attention to issues related to the expansion of the powers of Rosmolodezh. According to the Cabinet of Ministers, "consultations" between the department and the governor when electing the heads of the regional departments do not comply with the principles of limiting jurisdiction and powers between levels of government and granting coordination powers to Rosmolodezh. The personnel nomenclature of the relevant structures "requires further justification." At the same time, the White House stated that the innovation will require a redistribution of funds at the local level, but "there is no relevant information in the bill materials." Officials asked to consider these and other comments in the second reading.
Even before its introduction, the authors took into account a number of comments from the first review and agreed to make some additions to the final version (for example, to retain the provisions on supporting patriotic education centers), Artem Metelev told Kommersant earlier. The committee chairman said then that the representatives planned to continue working on the "legal preservation" of consultations and the nomenclature of positions in the region.
Announcing the project at a conference on October 15, Mr. Metelev listed three “global reasons” for adopting the innovation: “Request for updated information,” “The context of special military operations,” and the tasks set by the President, the Government, and Rosmolodezh.
Thus, the amendments take into account the coordination of the national project "Youth and Children" and the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to entrust the development of a youth policy strategy to Rosmolodezh, "creating a single and clear vertical of power and management in the industry." "We need to strengthen our colleagues," the committee chairman explained. According to him, the department will not only seek "a single national policy and legal regulation," "approval of key performance indicators and recommendations" in key areas of youth policy and institutional work, industry standards, but also "regional ministries will appoint regional ministries." "I participate in discussions when the time comes," he said. "The changes will allow us to create sustainable projects, implement quality standards and improve efficiency," United Russia assured.
During the debate, delegates expressed unanimous support for the document. No questions were raised about the key role of Rosmolodezh.
The head of the department, Grigory Gurov, who was present in the Duma, spoke only on the issues of KPIs and target indicators of patriotic education of young citizens. "In accordance with the president's instructions, a whole block of evaluation criteria is being prepared, and we will ask Artem Pavlovich to hold a committee meeting to present it," Mr. Gurov promised, adding that the department will work with VTsIOM: Prepare "cross-cutting metrics in the format of a generative index." "We have long been working on clear metrics, not on quantities," he emphasized.
Having confirmed the support of the department on behalf of the United Russia faction, Alena Arshinova confirmed: "It is important to emphasize the coordinating role of Rosmolodezh and to consolidate interdepartmental coordination at the regional level under the leadership of the heads of regions." Anna Skroznikova (Novye Lyudi) congratulated Grigory Gurov on his appointment and expressed confidence that "working with young people is a good thing." Only the chairperson of the Family Protection Committee Nina Ostanina (CPRF) gave the department the following instructions: The effect of this law. What you said about developing a cross-cutting matrix somehow sounded very generalized." the communist said sternly. She also warned the head of Rosmolodezh against "sometimes overly optimistic" assessments. Therefore, according to the latest data, almost 95% of Russian youth are true patriots, the deputy director reminded. District?.." There were no other arguments, and all 400 legislators present unanimously prepared the bill.