28 April 2007
Russian parliament is to debate ratification of agreement on Union State's property
The Russian State Duma is to debate a ratification bill for an agreement with Belarus on the property of the Belarusian-Russian Union State.
The bill was submitted to the lower parliamentary house by President Vladimir Putin.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka and his Russian counterpart signed the accord in St. Petersburg on January 24, 2006 in pursuance of the December 8, 1999 treaty on the formation of the Union State.
Under Article 5 of the agreement, the Council of Ministers of the Union State and other governing bodies of the Union State shall acquire property rights and exercise them on its behalf. On the authorization of the Council of Ministers, these powers may be exercised by governmental agencies of Russia and Belarus. The Union State formation treaty did not entitle the Council of Ministers of the Union State to exercise these rights.
The agreement on the Union State's common property provides for expanding the powers of the Union State's Council of Ministers, whose decisions are binding for the member states, their agencies, natural persons and legal entities.
It obliges Russia to hand over part of its sovereign powers of determining the scope of the authority of Russia's governmental agencies to the Council of Ministers of the Union State. //BelaPAN
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