Type Bicameral | Founded 12 December 1993 | |
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Houses Federation CouncilState Duma Preceded by Supreme Soviet of RussiaSupreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina MatviyenkoSince 21 September 2011 Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, United RussiaSince 5 October 2016 | ||
The Federal Assembly (Russian: Федера́льное Собра́ние, Federalnoye Sobraniye; [fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnəjə sɐˈbranʲɪjə]) is the national legislature of the Russian Federation, according to the Constitution of Russian Federation (1993). It was preceded by the Supreme Soviet.
Contents
It consists of the State Duma, which is the lower house, and the Federation Council, which is the upper house. Both houses are located in Moscow. The Chairman of the Federation Council is the third most important position after the President and the Prime Minister. In the case of incapacity of the President and the Prime Minister, the Chairman of the upper house of the Russian parliament becomes Acting President of Russia.
The jurisdiction of the State Duma includes: consent to the appointment of the Chairman of the Government, deciding the issue of confidence in the Government, appointment and dismissal of the Chairman of the Central Bank, appointment and dismissal of the Chairman and half of the auditors of the Accounting Chamber, appointment and dismissal of the Commissioner for Human Rights, proclamation of amnesty, advancing of charges against the President for his impeachment and others.
The jurisdiction of the Council of the Federation includes: approval of changes in borders between subjects of the Russian Federation, approval of the decree of the President on the introduction of a martial law or on the introduction of a state of emergency, deciding on the possibility of using the Armed Forces of Russia outside the territory of the Russia, appointment of elections of the President, impeachment of the President, appointment of judges of higher courts of Russia, appointment and dismissal of the Procurator-General of the Russian Federation, appointment and dismissal of Deputy Chairman and half of the auditors of the all Accounting Chamber and others.
Powers
As the Russian legislature, all laws must be voted in the Federal Assembly before they are signed into law. All bills, even those proposed by the Federation Council, must first be considered by the State Duma. Upon adoption by a majority of the full State Duma membership, a draft law is considered by the Federation Council, which has fourteen days to place the bill on its calendar. The Federation Council cannot make changes in bills passed by the Duma and can either approve or reject them. If the Federation Council rejects a bill passed by the State Duma, the two chambers may form a conciliation commission to work out a compromise version of the legislation. If two chambers cannot reach a compromise, or the Duma insists on passing the bill as is, the veto of the Federation Council can be overridden, if two thirds of the Duma's constitutional composition vote in favor of the bill.
The State Duma and the Federation Council usually meet separately. Joint sessions are organized when:
Parliamentary centre
Since the mid 2000-ies in Russia discusses the idea to combine in one building of the Parliamentary centre of the Russian State Duma and Federation Council. In 2012, the idea was supported by President Dmitry Medvedev. Reasons for the construction of a new building called the cramped offices of the parliamentarians, remote location for their work of service at ten locations in Moscow and the desire of the government to transfer the bodies from the city centre to reduce Traffic congestion.
For accommodation, we looked into different areas of Moscow: Kutuzovsky Prospekt, Frunzenskaya embankment, "Moscow City", Tushino airfield, Krasnaya Presnya, Moskvoretskaya embankment, Park Museon and the Sofia embankment. In September 2014 it was selected the territory Mnyovniki floodplain that environmentalists protested.
To choose the project of the future building offered to the members of both houses of Parliament on the basis of the architectural competition. But the submitted work caused parliamentarians aesthetic differences, which allow not helped by repeated competition.
The complexity was caused by the financing issue. Originally intended to build a Parliamentary center on private investors, who then receive ownership of a building of the State Duma and the Federation Council with the opportunity of erecting in their place, hotels or other objects. However, according to architectural critic Grigory Revzin, the State Duma is located in the building of the Council of labor and defense built in 1935, written by Arkady Langman, which is an architectural monument protected by the state and cannot be demolished.
To start the work of the Parliamentary center by 2020.