At the meeting, the participants discussed, among other things, the draft law on the general principles of organising local self-government. President Putin said that reform in this sphere was a cardinal decision that would influence the power structure in the Russian Federation.
According to the President, a major task of the reform is to determine the powers of local self-government. The absence of clarity in this issue makes the authorities irresponsible and prevents a rational distribution of public funds. In connection with this, President Putin proposed legally preventing the possibility of delegating powers to the constituent entities and local self-governments that are not secured by funding.
Mr Putin noted the need to pay due attention and respect to the demographic, cultural and geographic specifics of the different Russian regions.
The main task is to clearly divide the duties of regional and local authorities to the citizens, society and the state, the President said.
At the same time, he stressed that local self-government should ensure the country’s territorial integrity and defence capability.