ON FRIDAY 28 DECEMBER THE VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE CONTINUED ITS PLENARY PROCEEDINGS
The Plenary Meeting opened at 12 am.
Having opened the Sitting, the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatseniuk, told The People's Deputies that the Budget Committee was still studying The State Budget 2008.
A.Yatseniuk then read out Deputies' Inquiries.
After this he notified the Auditorium that The Committee for Standing Orders, Deputy's Ethics and Provision of Activities within The Verkhovna Rada has introduced a Draft Planned Schedule for the First Session proceedings in January 2008. It envisages that The People´s Deputies will work in Committees and Factions from 8 - 11 January, and hold Plenary Meetings on 15 - 17 January. On 16 January a Morning Plenary Meeting must be held, with the work then continued in Committees and Factions, and on 18 January one hour is allocated for Questions to The Cabinet of Ministers Members (‘Government Question Hour´).
A. Yatseniuk alerted the Auditorium to a technical error in this Draft, i.e. activities missing between the 2-4 January. He moved to amend the Planned Schedule, adding the work of The Deputies with the Electorate.
With the said amendment, the Planned Schedule for the First Session in January 2008 was seconded by 350 votes.
The Verkhovna Rada adopted several Resolutions on the early election of Village and City Mayors.
Before moving on to the next item on the Agenda, The Draft Bill of the State Budget 2008, A. Yatseniuk emphasised that the adoption of the Budget Bill was just a ‘technical´ matter. ‘We must give the Government an opportunity to work for two months, so as to adopt an elaborated document in March,´ noted A.Yatseniuk, adding that the Budget should be adopted ‘for the sake of preserving macro-economic stability´.
A.Yatseniuk stressed that he will insist on the inclusion, in the final provisions of the Law on The State Budget 2008, of additional paragraphs on the preparation, in March 2008, of the Government Action Plan, Programme of Socio-economic Development in 2008, and Revised State Budget
A one hour recess was then announced during the Sitting, during which the Conciliatory Council and the Budget Committee held a joint meeting.
After this interval, A. Yatseniuk announced that the Party of Regions and CPU Factions were requesting a further recess.
The chair moved to continue with the Plenary Meeting until such time as The State Budget 2008 had been considered, and this motion was seconded by The Deputies.
A recess was announced, as requested by the Party of Regions and CPU Factions. After this interval, The Verkhovna Rada continued with the adoption of Resolutions on the early election of Village and City Mayors. A total of 77 Resolutions were passed.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, A. Yatseniuk, explained the large number of Resolutions passed by the fact that The Verkhovna Rada had not dealt with the issues of Local Elections for almost a year. He said that the passing of these Resolutions will allow local communities to elect their Mayors.
The People´s Deputies then pronounced on the passing of the Bill on The State Budget. Oleh Zarubinsky said it was impossible to approve The State Budget and amend 102 Laws by a single voting. He said that this voting will cancel the said Laws.
The People´s Deputy Oleh Liashko, expressed his view that those opposed to the Coalition were trying to change the Budget voting procedure for that requiring a show-of-hands , thus aiming to impede the effective voting.
The Chairman of the CPU Faction, Petro Symonenko, explained the reasons why his Faction, together with the Party of Regions Faction had asked for a recess. The two Factions insist that all social payments, which have to be revised, pursuant to the judgement of the Constitutional Court, should be allowed for in the Law on the State Budget. The Factions also insist that the section of the Bill envisaging amendments to over 100 Laws be put to a separate vote. P. Symonenko said that this section should be excluded from the Bill and voted on separately. He stressed that the CPU Faction would only vote for The State Budget after these requirements have been satisfied.
After the Deputies´ addresses, the First Vice-Prime Minister, Olexander Turchynov, took the floor. He said that the comments made by the Deputies, who fear that the Draft will permanently change more than 100 Laws, were not quite correct. The Law on The State Budget will take effect for one year only. Therefore the Laws cannot be changed for any longer period.
O. Turchynov appealed to the People´s Deputies to vote for the Draft Budget at the First Reading. He said that after the Draft has been passed, the Cabinet of Ministers will at once hold a meeting, together with the Chairmen of Committees, to discuss all proposals from the People´s Deputies concerning the Budget Bill, and prepare it for the final passing.
After all addresses, A. Yatseniuk once more explained the necessity of passing the Bill as a basis for further discussion, so that the Government could elaborate on all proposals from the People´s Deputies.
Mykola Derkach, Chairman of the Budget Committee, then presented the opinion and proposals of his Committee. He said that yesterday Members of his Committee had reached agreement with the Members of the Cabinet of Ministers on the major part of issues turned down by the People´s Deputies. The unresolved issues will be exhaustively studied by the Government.
The Chairman of the Budget Committee remarked separately on the sale of agricultural land.
He said that the Budget Committee suggests that The Verkhovna Rada continues the Land Sale Moratorium, on the grounds that the Land Market Laws have to be passed.
He also upheld the deferral of the introduction of Value Added Tax on agricultural workers until 1 January of the year following the year when The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratifies the protocol of joining The WTO by Ukraine.
The Budget Committee recommended that The Verkhovna Rada passes the Bill on the State Budget 2008, taking into account all comments and proposals.
The Minister of Finance, Viktor Pynzenyk, the took the floor at the Plenary Meeting. He said that the Government had yesterday worked productively together with the Budget Committee, and the Committee Members upheld the passing of the Bill
Following this, The People´s Deputies from The Lytvyn Bloc once again insisted, in their addresses, that the provisions on the agricultural land sale and the whole of Part 2, amending several legislative acts, be excluded from the text of the Bill.
This matter was then put to the vote. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved at the First Reading the Bill on The State Budget 2008. This decision was seconded by 243 votes: 155 from the BYuT Faction, 69 from ‘Our Ukraine People´s Self-Defence'´ Faction, 18 from The Lytvyn Bloc, and 1 from the Party of Regions Faction. None of the CPU Faction Deputies voted in favour of the Bill.
The Verkhovna Rada resolved to make several amendments to the Bill whilst preparing it for approval in its entirety. It was suggested that those issues related to reaching an interaction between the State and Local Budget are elaborated on.
It was also suggested that the Agricultural Land Sale Moratorium is continued until Legislative Acts on the land market have been adopted.
The Resolution also envisages that in the event of the State Budget being finally approved, the Cabinet of Ministers should, until 1 March 2008, introduce a Bill on Amendments to the Law ‘On the State Budget 2008'´ for the consideration of The Verkhovna Rada
This Law must be elaborated on drawing on the analysis of the fulfilment of the basic macro-indicators of economic and social development of Ukraine and The Budget 2007, and the reassessment of the major estimated macro-indicators for 2008.
After the voting, The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatseniuk, called for a 2-hour recess in the Plenary Meeting, during which time The Cabinet of Ministers and The Budget Committee went on to finalize the Bill, taking account of the remarks and proposals from The People´s Deputies.
404 People´s Deputies Registered for the Evening Meeting.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, A.Yatseniuk, notified those present of the continuing meeting of the Budget Committee. Following a short discussion on the situation, he informed The People´s Deputies that he needed to attend the Committee Meeting and announce a recess.
After this interval, A. Yatseniuk announced that the Meeting of the Budget Committee had been closed, and gave the floor to the Committee Chairman, Mykola Derkach. The latter informed the Auditorium that the Committee had resolved that The Minister of Finance should report on the decisions taken, and on those proposals from the People´s Deputies which have been taken into account.
The Minister of Finance, Viktor Pynzenyk, said that the Cabinet of Ministers had considered the Resolution on the approval of the Bill on The State Budget 2008 at the First Reading.
V. Pynzenyk gave a detailed account of the proposals on which the Deputies had insisted and which were included in the Bill during its elaboration for the Second Reading.
The Minister of Finance said that The Cabinet of Ministers has agreed with the opinion and proposals of the Budget Committee. The Government had also added several items to these proposals, as mentioned by the Committee Chairman, Mykola Derkach.
V.Pynzenyk also reported on several other agreed items in the Clauses of the Bill.
The Minister of Finance also stated that the Government will, within two months, elaborate on and introduce in The Verkhovna Rada a Draft Programme of the Socio-economic Development together with several Bills, whose adoption in required by the Law ‘On the State Budget 2008´.
V. Pynzenyk said that a compromise had been achieved with all Factions concerning their proposals. He stressed separately that the proposals of the Party of Regions Faction had been taken into account.
The Members of various Factions offered their vision of the Bill.
Ivan Kyrylenko, the BYuT Faction Chairman, called on the Deputies to uphold the Bill.
Mykhailo Papiev, of the Party of Regions Faction, stated that his Faction will not vote for this Budget.
Alla Alexandrovska, of the CPU Faction, stressed that her Faction will insist on the inclusion of all their proposals,
Oleh Zarubinsky, of The Lytvyn Bloc, asked The Minister of Finance to read out the points on which the proposals from the People´s Deputies of his Faction had been submitted. This will allow the clarification of the Faction´s position during the voting.
Pavlo Zhebrivsky, of ‘Our Ukraine-People´s Self-Defence´ Faction, upheld the Approval of the Bill, emphasising those points for which he is responsible to his voters.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada, Arseniy Yatseniuk, summarized the discussion and asked for clarification on the unresolved issue relating to Ukraine´s entry into The WTO. He said that The President will not sign this Law, as it will not allow for approval of the Report of the Preparatory Group which studied the issues of Ukraine´s entry into the WTO.
Volodymyr Lytvyn, Chairman of The Lytvyn Bloc Faction, demanded that the Minister of Finance clarifies three issues: on the Agricultural Land Sale Moratorium, Ukraine´s entry into The WTO, and the functioning of the 102 Laws which are to be amended by this Law.
V. Pynzenyk explained once again that all these issues have been settled.
Following a request by the Party of Regions and CPU Factions A. Yatseniuk announced a recess.
After this interval, A. Yatseniuk gave the floor to the Representatives of three Factions - those of the Party of Regions, CPU and The Lytvyn Bloc. The BYuT and ‘Our Ukraine People´s Self Defence´ Factions did not wish to take the floor.
The speakers once again insisted that their proposals are taken into account.
The Chair then put to the vote the Bill, with amendments, on The State Budget 2008 and Amendments to Several Legislative Acts, included in the opinion of the Budget Committee and proposals of The Cabinet of Ministers.
In the outcome of voting, the Law ‘On the State Budget 2008 and Amendments to Several Legislative Acts´ was approved in its entirety by 235 votes.
The Members of Factions, taking the floor on the reasons for voting, explained how they had voted.
Closing the Meeting, Arseniy Yatseniuk emphasized that The Verkhovna Rada has fulfilled its commitment to The Cabinet of Ministers. He also said that The Verkhovna Rada will insist that each of the final provisions of this Law be implemented.
A. Yatseniuk offered his warmest wishes for a very Happy New Year and Joyous Christmas to The People´s Deputies.
The Plenary Meeting was then closed.
The next Plenary Meeting of the First Session of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 6th Convocation will be held on Tuesday 15 January 2008.