On “no ‘standby’ week”
“Every plenary week is precious. It is important to work effectively, to organize the Parliament proceedings in the most practical way – since the entire life of the country is being covered with the ongoing reforms,” stressed Andriy Parubiy, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in his interview to the parliamentary Rada TV channel.
It was urgent for today to approve the 2017 budget changes and provide budget subventions for housing (rent) allowances and subsidies. And the Parliament was successful in that.
“It is essential that we be in line with the timing set by law, not dragging out with the budget approval until the New Year holidays. It would be great if we pan out with the 2018 budget issue in the early or mid-December,” stated the Chairman.
On three cinema laws
It is a great achievement that we were able to adopt the three preferential laws for our cinema since they have been designed to give a ponderable push to its development through establishing favourable taxes and some other promoting breaks for a five-year span of time. The Chairman then informed this year is to bring us some seventy movies to be finished by the end of the year, and fifty more are scheduled for the next year.
“The set of
boosting measures and preferences launched by the state ought to drive to a vigorous
release of the cinema energy accumulated in Ukraine – great actors, gifted film
directors, plenty of investors ready to place money in Ukraine’s culture and
cinema,” underscored A.Parubiy.
The Chairperson
reminded the Parliament has approved this plenary week 12 laws on the second
reading, eight first reading bills and two resolutions, which seems en masse to
show a good weekly performance.
On state property privatization
“The state property privatization law sets a clear privatization procedure applying thereby in fact the best European practices,” said Andriy Parubiy, the Chairperson of the Parliament.
The law was one of the week’s most important first reading issues taken recently under No.7066. Nowadays, Ukraine ‘outruns’ the whole neighboring countries community in the number of non-privatized enterprises. Until now, there have been no precise and clear criteria for the privatization to avoid corruption and inefficiency. It is different at present. To the chairman’s mind, the law “is the major enactment to streamline privatization procedures and to introduce the modern tools of the process – market pricing, use of European arbitral authorities in privatization litigations, ability to compete freely, etc.” Presently, the law adoption as such does not in fact constitute the practical start of the privatization process to the full extent, however it “paves a direct pathway to launching the procedure allowing it to lure investors, to deliver a good owner and kill the local venal practices which are still in use”.
“Adoption of the law on the first reading was of significance to no end,” underscored A.Parubiy, having then expressed his belief that the issue be rounded off by the end of the year.
On Electoral Code
“The recently approved first reading of the Electoral Code seems to be a powerful upward mobility gear allowing it to involve new faces and actors into the political system, in the Parliament, into the whole decision-making process,” said Andriy Parubiy.
Adoption of the code was the blanket insistence of all the political wings in the House. There were five versions of the election laws clusters presented for a thorough consideration.
The
Chairman is convinced the newly adopted code (open list voting system) will standardize
the elections process at every level – from parliamentary to local. “It is the
most thorough and holistic product as of today in Ukraine ready well for the
second reading,” he said.
The open list system gives an elector a tool to vote not only for a party chosen in a crowd but also control the entire list of the party’s candidates by skimming the cream off through a direct election to the Parliament.