The Constitution Court works effectively enough to bring stability and dynamism to Russia's political life, Mr. Zorkin said, while acknowledging there is a whole number of outstanding problems it needs to address.
To quote him, the times when "the Constitution lay on the backburner, gathering dust, while the nation lived by some other rules" are past us. Now, Russia tries to comply with its Supreme Law "all year round, not just on Constitution Day," he noted.
Mr. Zorkin remarked that the Constitution is hard to change, but that this does not mean it should remain intact, as its substance needs building up. President Putin replied by saying there were no plans to change the Constitution any time soon. "What you meant is that the Constitution is a living legislative organism, and in order to avoid misunderstanding, I would like to explain that we are talking about the Constitution Court as an interpreter of specific provisions in the Constitution. This does not necessarily mean that we are going to amend or change the Constitution. There is no such objective and no such plans," he indicated.
Mr. Zorkin thanked the President for referring to the Constitution Court as "an interpreter of the Constitution." "This is a great honor," he said, "provided there is a guarantor of the Constitution, of course."
Speaking of challenges presently facing the Constitutional Court, Mr. Zorkin singled out ones related to property and to welfare and tax legislation. He said the Court is not an indispensable body, but that it is an important element in the national judicial system. There are also supra-national judicial bodies, such as the Strasbourg Court, but this particular court has not handed down a single ruling against Russia owing to "the Constitution Court's misjudgment," he pointed out.
