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Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon,

I am glad to welcome you to the first session of the State Duma of the fourth convocation. And, of course, I congratulate you with the start of your work.

I would immediately like to wish every one of you and the chamber as a whole success in conducting productive parliamentary activity. I hope that you will successfully attain results in legislative initiatives.

In a few days time, it will be exactly ten years since the first convocation of the State Duma of the new Russia. Much has changed in the country in these years. The State Duma has also changed. I would say more – and I think many people would agree with me – the country has changed.

Constructive legislative work did not come immediately, but through great efforts to change the political confrontation in parliament. Today we can justifiably call this period a time of strengthening the country’s parliamentary and legal culture. One can speak about a modern State Duma as a working institution of power. It is an institution that is not only gathering state and political authority in our own country, but also abroad. And it does not only have its own intensive schedule, but also an individual style.

Every deputy who has come to the new State Duma will be faced with continuing and developing further the traditions of Russian parliamentarianism. And, of course, this means writing a chapter in its history. I would like to stress once again here: what this will be depends on you. Progress in Russia depends on you to a considerable extent, as well as the growth of real democracy and citizen’s standards of life.

Esteemed colleagues,

Strategic tasks must be solved in the future. The country needs to make a genuine breakthrough in many areas: the economy and the social sphere. The specific feature of this period is that Russia already has all the necessary conditions to implement plans of this scale, including by drawing on your predecessors’ experience of consolidated work with all the branches of power.

Today, I shall not mention specific law-making plans. We shall discuss these in-depth at future meetings. I shall only point to the main priorities.

Therefore, I suggest that, above all – and I stress this – we should concentrate on issues directly connected with Russian citizens’ quality of life. This means continuing reforms in education and health, as well as creating accessible housing and forming a legal basis for the mortgage system.

Of course, there are still many social problems that we have to solve together. We must remember that state power comes from the nation, is formed by the nation and should work in the interests of citizens. Evident and tangible success must be achieved to improve living conditions.

Obviously, the achievement of these goals is directly linked with the state and possibilities of our economy. And, therefore, the development of the financial, tax and banking systems should become the levers of economic growth, as should land legislation, the bolstering of property rights and the development of entrepreneurial and economic freedom.

Work must also be continued to increase the efficiency of the budget sector and its most important component: inter-budgetary relations.

Our plans also include supporting the civil service and increasing the quality of work of all chains of the administrative system.

On the whole, the new Duma must take a serious step towards forming a new, qualitative legislature, towards its systematisation and achieving balance.

I would like to focus on one circumstance that you know very well. Experience has already shown: the mechanism of adopting new laws without co-ordination with current laws and with violations of the priorities of legal regulation inevitably leads to the law becoming devalued and less effective. Such legislation, by its very definition, cannot and will never be applicable or effective.

In this connection, tougher demands have to be made on the very process of adopting laws. This means starting from the earliest stages of bills’ preparation.

Legislation must be filled with norms of direct action, while serious economic and anti-corruption expert studies of bills have to be conducted. There has to be a constant exchange of ideas with the executive, the expert community, business circles and civil society, in general.

Obviously, this kind of work will go on in committees and parliamentary parties. Parliamentary parties represent the interests of influential nationwide parties. They can productively attract their human and intellectual resources.

And, finally, I would like to emphasise one fundamental point. Democracy is not confined to elections alone. Parliament’s role in enhancing all the democratic institutions is extremely important. Moreover, Parliament itself must serve as an example for promoting the basic principles of democracy.

Esteemed colleagues,

You have four years of great and responsible law-making activity in front of you. Undoubtedly, this time will be filled with difficult discussions of strategic issues for the life of the state and society, the search for common viewpoints and the best decisions. You will have to investigate thoroughly the essence of a huge range of economic, social and international problems, as well as living problems, the solutions to which your electors are waiting for and will ask you to provide. They will assess the results of your work from the very first day.

You represent different political forces, different parties. However, I am convinced that, regardless of ideological belief, the most important thing will unite you: the feeling of being indebted to the citizens of the country.

I hope for close cooperation with all the parliamentary parties; cooperation in the interests of and for the good of Russia.

Thank you.

I wish you success and I wish your families and your loved ones a happy New Year!