OREANDA-NEWS. Presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko agreed to create a single parliament and government, and a number of administrative functions will be delegated to these institutions. This was announced on November 29 by the Ambassador of Belarus to Russia Vladimir Semashko at the international conference “Eurasian Economic Integration” in Moscow.

According to the diplomat, among the tasks currently being worked out are the unification of the tax laws of the two countries, the formation of common oil, gas and electricity markets, as well as “creation of a single parliament and government with certain powers under which independent Russia and Belarus delegate upward certain administrative functions for obligatory execution.”

Semashko also said that after recent meeting of prime ministers, Moscow and Minsk had fully agreed on 20 of the 31 developed roadmaps for deep integration. According to Belarusian Ambassador, in the near future, the parties intend to “find compromises and minimize discrepancies” on the rest of roadmaps, and then “the presidents will have the last word.”

Semashko also recalled that, in accordance with roadmaps, the creation of single markets in Russia and Belarus is planned by 2021. However, according to him, before that, there is still “a whole year to live” to solve the issue of energy prices and the problem of compensating the tax maneuver.

Political analyst Dmitry Bolkunets, commenting on Semashko’s words, stated that Russian and Belarusian sides have not yet agreed on the economic aspects of integration, and the issue of a single government and parliament will be decided later. “Creating a single government and parliament is not such a simple task,” Bolkunets concluded.