The unification of the Arkhangelsk region with the Nenets Autonomous Okrug is justified both politically, and economically. About it FBA “economy today” told the associate professor of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State Pedagogical University, political scientist Vladimir Shapovalov.
Authorities of the Arkhangelsk Region and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) discuss the process of merging into a single entity - while the process is taking place at the level of interim governors. According to the procedures, this decision is to be submitted to a meeting with the heads of regional governments, where the corresponding memorandum will be prepared. The final decision of the issue will be for the population of the regions at a referendum, which can pass already in 2020 year.
Nenets Autonomous Okrug - the region with the smallest population in the country, existing in the arctic zone. He traditionally faces difficulties in creating local authorities - staff shortages and a shortage of specialists affected here even during the Soviet era.. However, experts point not only to political, but also on other benefits from the merger.
“The unification of the Arkhangelsk region and the NAO has been discussed for more than ten years, but for various reasons this reform was postponed, – Shapovalov notes. - Meanwhile, Russia has extensive experience in this process. So, at 2008 the Trans-Baikal Territory was formed by the merger of the Chita Region with the Aginsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug. Before that in the same way “enlarged” Perm, Kamchatka and Irkutsk regions, Krasnoyarsk region. Everywhere - taking into account the wishes of residents.
Looking at the federal states of the world, then Russia is very fragmented. In RF 85 subjects with population in 146 million people, and in the USA - 50 states with over 300 million people. In Germany, there are only 16 lands at 86 million people. Compared to Brazil, India, Canada, Australia, Russia is much more fragmented by Mexico. And the presence of small autonomous regions in the Russian Federation creates a problem of ineffective management”.
Merger without takeover
The unification of the Arkhangelsk region and the NAO was predetermined, since they originally belong to the so-called “subjects-nesting dolls”. Technically, NAO is already included in the region, but at the same time it is considered a separate subject of the Federation. And this is not the only precedent in the Russian Federation - the same “matryoshka dolls” are the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. They are both independent regions and are part of the Tyumen region.
Arkhangelsk region and NAO are oil-producing regions, in which the interests of large specialized Russian giant companies often intersect. Each project brings investment, which are reflected in the budget and living standards of local cities. While these two entities are competitors in the fight for investors' money and projects. Moreover, NAO often loses, as business in search of guarantees goes to a larger region. Unification will put an end to this fight.
“Talking about some kind of absorption of one region by another in this case is inappropriate - the residents of both subjects understand the benefits of unification, what is unambiguously talked about in the referendum. As history has shown, as a result, both regions benefit from the process, which henceforth become one. They have coexisted so closely for many decades., that merging is often just a formal process.
On the other hand, such a union saves the country from legal conflict “matryoshka dolls” with dual status. At the legislative level, this situation often creates problems and contradictions., without discrepancy and in a single composition, many processes are activated. And the unification of both oil and gas budgets, and investment projects will ultimately benefit both the Arkhangelsk region, and the acceding NAO”, – Shapovalov emphasizes.
Consolidation optimizes regions
The unification of the Arkhangelsk region and the NAO has been discussed since the middle “null” years. So, in 2006, regional deputies assessed the prospects of this process and came to the conclusion, that both subjects will only benefit from this. And 2007 even a temporary agreement on economic cooperation was in force. anticipated, that in 2009 the issue of creating a single entity will be finally decided, but the economic crisis in 2008 forced these plans to be postponed.
However, with 1 January 2008 of the year Arkhangelsk region took over the execution 28 state powers in the territory of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. At that time, the head of the region Ilya Mikhalchuk said, what the neighbors generate “unified opinion on a whole block of positions”. Among them, the distribution of additional income from taxpayers in the NAO, construction of social facilities and a winter road, agroprom, regulation of tariffs for electricity and air passenger transportation, transfer of state property.
“In the conditions of Russia it is impossible to carry out indiscriminate consolidation - to create 8-10 subjects will not work. But point pooling, when there are economic and social prerequisites for this, can and should be done. the main thing, so that the willingness of the local population is attached to this - this will be confirmed by the vote. Since Soviet times, the NAO has been listed as an independent entity - if people understand, that their interests are taken into account when uniting, there will be no problems.
So the initiative, discussed for decades, had to sooner or later result in a logical reform.. The world is now in an economic crisis, aggravated by a pandemic, so the union becomes more than relevant. Given the problems “matryoshka dolls”, they have long needed optimization of management systems to create a unified budget and state apparatus. So the union can be considered an effective anti-crisis measure for both participants.”, – concludes Vladimir Shapovalov.
Max Boot
