Kudrin Committee advises authorities not to irritate middle class, accelerate elite rotation

MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax) – The Civil Initiatives Committee of former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has urged the authorities not to tighten the screws on civil society regulation.

“It is necessary not to tighten the screws on the regulation of civil society, free discussion and protest actions. Such measures do nothing but radicalize protests and ruin the authorities’ hope for restoring confidence and holding a constructive dialogue with the dissenters,” says a report published on the Civil Initiatives Committee Web site on Tuesday.

Kudrin signed the statement jointly with other Civil Initiatives Committee members – Andrei Galiyev, Leonid Gozman, Yevgeny Gontmakher, Mikhail Dmitriyev, Boris Makarenko and Igor Jurgens.

The Committee recommends that the authorities “stop using the media as an instrument of propaganda and create conditions for normal execution of professional duties by reporters.”

“The drastic discrepancy between daily life and images pushed by television and newspapers is increasingly irritating,” the statement said.

The Committee recommended “taking measures to accelerate rotation in the elites and fostering competition in elections at all levels.”

“Institutional design of the authorities should result from a serious reform of election laws backed by the public and their strict implementation. That will help develop a new style of elite relationships and build up the legitimacy of ballots in the eyes of the people. The consistent holding of this course will lead to a new ‘social contract.’ In turn, the observation of this ‘contract’ will make it possible to draft and implement a set of vital and intertwined reforms of the political system, the economy and social affairs,” the statement said.

The Committee advised the authorities “to put an end to the confrontational rhetoric as regard ‘the angry minority’ and its deliberate opposition to ‘the loyal majority’, the condemnation of liberalism and Westernism.”

“This policy toughens the anti-government position of the middle class and adjacent population strata, without which sustainable development of the country is impossible, and does not enhance the loyalty of the majority amid the crisis,” the statement said.

The Committee recommended the authorities to offer the public “a fair and clear strategy of socioeconomic development based on an adequate system of priorities.” “The society is capable of accepting painful but necessary reforms only if it trusts the authorities,” it said.

The Committee suggests that the “carrots and sticks” for elites should target not so much the provision of loyalty as the institution of meritocracy, encouragement of efficiency and ridding of insufficient and corrupt managers.”