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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.
Global Real Estate Project
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Russian land to foreigners? Too early to cry victory
Let's turn back to the facts. Last year the Russian parliament voted in favor of the Land Code including in it for the first time in decades the notion of "private property on the land". In an appendix to this Code the Russian legislature said that this bill wouldn't take effect concerning the arable land until a special law is passed. Exactly this special law was voted on its first reading this week against the communist opposition in the house. Which are the main points in this new bill? First, part (not specified) of the arable land in the country will be privatized. Second, foreign citizens also may take part in the privatization. Third, some restrictions apply as to this foreign participation. Forth, local governors will have the power to decide how much exactly of the land will be privatized above a minimum determined by the law. So far so good and if you're either American or European agro-company I suppose you already have called your bank to ask for cheap credits. But wait a minute because this opportunity may become another Russian political trick. As we already mentioned, even if this bill becomes a law, some restrictions will apply to the right of foreigners to buy arable land. For example under restriction will be put the border areas as well as the areas with higher security concerns. Now look at the Russian map and you'll see that almost all arable lands are situated along the southern borders of the country. In the European part of the country larger areas will be forbidden for foreigners simply because they are near the very sensitive for some security reasons Northern Caucasus region. But these restrictions will apply only if in the final version of the law the foreigners are still eligible to buy some arable land. We have all doubts to believe that they will be eligible simply because in Russia such idea (to allow foreigners to buy land) is very unpopular. The Russian president and his government won't risk their political survival a year before the next parliament elections. Given the strong communist opposition to this bill, it won't be difficult to predict taking off some of the most radical paragraphs in the bill and the first among them is of course the paragraph allowing foreigners to take part in the privatization process. Even if this bill becomes a law there will be more hidden traps on the road. The local governors will decide how much land must be taken from one individual. If this limit is below the minimum allowing the very existence of sustainable and profitable farms, then no foreign investor will come to buy anything. Most governors are economically linked with the local business structures so it's highly improbable that they will set up favorable conditions for the foreign capital. The State Duma has decided this week only one thing - that some parts of the arable land in Russia will be privatized. Exactly how many and exactly by whom, that has still to be decided.
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