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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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On 11th October the second chamber of the Russian parliament - the Council of the Federation adopted on the final reading the Land Code which does allow the Russian citizens to buy and sell freely land parcels. In fact for now they will be entitled to buy and sell only 2 percent of the whole land in the country, mainly in the cities. Nevertheless the communists in Russia until the last moment tried to obstruct the bill becoming a law. They didn't succeed because they have against the themselves the united forces of the state hierarchy and the "big money". Having this Code adopted the current Russian government reaches two goals in the same time: it receives a tool that may destroy the economic foundations of the communists in their last bastions and builds a solid wall against the foreign investors in the agrarian sector.

The Code is only the first step towards the market liberalization of the land in Russia. It turns into a law the basis principle that the land is a good that may be sold and bought as anything else on the market. So far the Code would allow to buy land only on 2 percent of the territory, especially in the towns or if linked with the transport, industry and communications. As we can see here so far there is nothing that may address the need of reform in the agrarian sector. But the Code requires more legislation in the future that will allow the free agricultural land market. When it will be ready it's another matter but the crucial point has been turned with the adoption of the Land Code. The proof even the indirect one is the strong opposition to the Code in the last many years by the Russian communists that want to endure the "kolhoz" style of land management.

The governmental policy of Moscow so far indicates that it wants to reach two goals in the agrarian sector at the same time - to destroy the economic and social foundations of the Communist Party, the so called "kolhoz" (kind of collective farms inherited from communism) and to protect the land against the foreign investors. The new Code and the agrarian legislature in project will reach both these objectives. The new tool for this will be the so-called hierarchic economic structures that are in a course of making, associating the whole production process in a given field on a given large territory. Such kind of huge economic entities are considered by the Russia government to be ideal for both competing with the "kolhoz" and the would-be foreign agro-investors.

These entities have many advantages. On one hand they are private companies which don't depend on the state and local budgets. Almost of them were created in the first half of the 90s as tools in a process of industry privatization. In the last years they accumulated large assets which want to invest in the last "empty space" for the market economy in Russia - the agriculture.

On the other hand they are "Russian" companies so the liberalized land market won't be considered by the society as a national treason (see for more on that - /news/mkt/ru-land.htm ). Third, these entities may soon be joined if not yet by the economic interests associated with the government itself. These days the Russian economic minister German Gref told the parliamentarians that the capital gains in some sectors of the agriculture could reach 10 000 percent. Such gains' prospects are sufficient reason for any government to try to participate in the business. Without sharing it with unwanted foreigners.

Thus we have to acknowledge that the Russian government policy on the land matters has first of all economic and not political objectives. It's not a step of market opening toward the West, but a step toward the redistribution of the land into more friendly hands.

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