One cannot kill hens laying eggs

The former prime-minister of Belarus Mikhail Chigir has declared his intention to take part in president elections. The correspondent of "Vecherniy Minsk" has interviewed the potential candidate.

- Mikhail Nikolaevitch, you haven’t appeared on our political stage for a long time. But ex-premiere isn’t a figure that can be forgotten.

- A year after I have retired, I really did not work anywhere.

It was impossible in Belarus. In January 1998 I left for Moscow, where I began working in a bank, then -- in an investment company. In March I was offered to head Moscow representative office of a large German concern. Our concern’s turnover is about four billions dollars. My task is to expand it and to strengthen our links. My family lives in Belarus. I come to Minsk every weak-end, so I know everything what occurs here.I predicted the catastrophic economy crisis long before it began . I just did not expect that it will develop so promptly. Belarus can’t count on help from abroad. We are isolated from the West. Russia has its own problems.. Belarus owes to it astronomical sums for gas and oil. We can forecast that after the New year the situation will aggravate.

- The prospect is rather sad. On your opinion, what determined it?

- Firstly, international isolation never gives positive results. Its consequences are: no credits, investments, reduction of quantity of humanitarian help. The isolation also affects international economic cooperation There are also internal reasons of the crisis. In Belarus there are neither market economy, nor centralized one. We shouldn’t experiment without our own oil and gas. A country that wants to stabilize its economy, should not reject economic partners, neither from the West nor from the East.. Once I met a premiere of Luxembourg. He was sincerely surprised why we strive to join Russia. Luxembourg is a small state, which carries out independent policy. But its citizens are rather wealthy.

- The problem of international isolation has developed much later than you retired. And what was the reason that you broke up with the head of the state?

- For example, the question of private property on land that influences effectiveness of farmers’ labour and price of their production. Besides I constantly tried to persuade control commitees and tax police, that one cannot kill hens laying eggs. I mean businessmen.

Numerous inspections and penalty sanctions made a lot of businessmen leave to Moscow. Now they pay taxes to the Russian state. Private business is pressed to death. By the way it gave 15 percent of all tax receipts in the republican treasury. The referendum of 1996 was the last straw. I expressed my attitude to it by a resignation.

- You have declared your intention to take part in the president elections, if they take place in the next year according to the Constitution of 1994. You work intensively and you’re rather wealthy. Why should you burden yourself with the political affair?

- My salary isn’t enormous. Though I can’t complain for poverty. The sum of taxes that I’ll pay for this year wil be equal with the annual salaries of the President and premiere of Belarus. I decided to participate in the electionss for two reasons: firstly, because of the catastrophic situation in economy, secondly, because some parties and well-known politics of the republic promised to support me. Because it is impossible to live like byelorussian people do.

- And what alternative can you propose?

- First of all it is necessary to make a window in the wall of international isolation. Then we should change the financial policy of the state. In 1995 and 1996, when I occupied the post of premiere, right financial politics gave good results. We got rid of cards for products and goods, salaries were risen up to a hundred dollars, shops were full of products. The differences in rates of dollar at the beginning and at the end of my term has made only three thousands roubles.

- We know how our oppositioners reacted to your declaration. Only Stanislav Shushkevitch approved of it.

- I do not expect that everybody will support me. However there is enough time for negotiation and discussion of the situation with the politics whose attitude to my plans is still indifferent. My declaration was unexpected for many of them.

- The authorities constantly emphasize weakness of the opposition and indispensability of the leader of the state. How can you comment it?

- Our political opposition is really weak. Main оpposition of the present authority is the difficult economic situation. If Lukashenko’s policy were economically successful, he would always win politically. What concerns an alternative of the present leader, there are capable and intelligent people. But nobody knows about them because they have no access to state mass-media.

- How would you characterize your potential electorate?

-I expect that I will be supported by reasonable, thoughtful people. Their social status does not matter. First of all they should understand that its time for changes.

Tatjana Schedrionok
Translated by Olga Detiuk
I’d be very glad if you send your reviews and comments on my e-mail: olga_minsk@yahoo.com