Federation Council members will be renamed senators — RealnoeVremya.com
Tatarstan State Duma Deputy Oleg Morozov and his six colleagues have tabled a bill containing amendments to the Federal Law on Parliamentary Control for consideration by the Lower House. The main purpose of the document is to rename the “members of the Federation Council” “senators of the Russian Federation”. The history of these amendments begins with the changes made to the Constitution in 2020. However, the main law itself uses both terms at the same time.
They want to change 82 laws, but the Constitution also has a duality
As the parliamentary newspaper wrote, it was planned to reappoint the senators who are members of the Federation Council in regulatory acts as early as July 2020. The chairman of the Federal Council’s commission for the regulation and organization of parliamentary activity , Vyacheslav Timchenko, spoke about it then. However, the initiative has not been fully implemented in the past two years. This could happen at least because “member of the Federation Council” is mentioned in 82 laws.
In the current legislation, it is proposed to change the formulations only in the Federal Law on Parliamentary Control. However, the new wording has long been mentioned in the Federal Law on the Order of Formation of the Federation Council and in a number of other laws.
The history of the Russian Senate begins in 1711
The ruling Senate as the supreme agency of legislative, executive and judicial power was founded by Peter the Great in 1711. However, just 15 years later, the Senate was renamed the Supreme Senate and lost some of its functions. Later, during the reign of Catherine the Great, it was divided into several departments but lost its legislative role. Since the beginning of the 19e century, it exercised control functions over the activity of state institutions.
Dissolution and new start of the Russian parliament
Although the Senate as such does not appear in the new Russian power, the term senator has been firmly associated with the member of the Federation Council since the establishment of the Federation Council.
“Although the term senator was widely used by the Russian-speaking public and associated with the member of the Federation Council, this concept was borrowed from foreign practice (senator in Latin), a member of the senate,” writes Yevgeny Madayev.
The researcher thinks that to avoid different interpretations of certain terms, the name “member of the Federation Council” should change in all regulatory documents to “senator” and specify in the Constitution that these terms are equal as the Federation Council and the Senate.
“To avoid a collision in the interpretation of Article 134 and Clause 2 of Article 135 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in Part 1 of Article 95, it is recommended to indicate that” the name of the Senate and of the Council of the Federation are equal”, while part 2 of article 95 should be amended as follows: “the name of the senator of the Russian Federation and that of the member of the Council of the Federation are equal,” concludes Madayev.
Artyom Gafarov
Tatarstan
