ON WEDNESDAY 19 DECEMBER, THE VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE CONTINUED ITS PLENARY PROCEEDINGS
412 People's Deputies Registered in the Assembly Room.
Opening the Morning Meeting, the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatseniuk, notified the Deputies that Ivan Kyrylenko has been elected Chairman of 'The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc' Deputy Faction to supersede Yulia Tymoshenko. Andriy Kozhemiakin was elected Deputy Chairman to supersede Olexander Turchynov.
The Chair then advised the People's Deputies of the Agreements reached at the Meeting of the Conciliatory Council, according to which the Plenary Meeting should begin with addresses by Faction members, followed by consideration of the Termination of Authorities by the People's Deputies of Ukraine.
A. Yatseniuk stated he would then give an update on the matter of Assigning of Committees and the Appointment of the First Vice-Chairman and Vice-Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada. Continuing with the Agenda the next item would be the taking of The Oath by those People's Deputies who are superseding the People's Deputies elected to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
The Faction members then took the floor with their statements.
After these addresses, A. Yatseniuk alerted the Auditorium to an existing legal collision regarding the appointment of the Membership of the Cabinet of Ministers. He reminded those present that he had read out a number of legislative provisions and legal rules concerning the Termination of Authorities of the People's Deputies now elected as Members of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine stressed that the Applications for an early Termination of People´s Deputy Authorities have been produced by all Deputies elected as members of the Cabinet of Ministers. He said that anyone can locate copies of these Applications on the website of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. 'Therefore, any complaints concerning the elected members of the Cabinet of Ministers are excluded,' he said.
‘On the other hand´, he continued, ‘Clause 217 of the Standing Orders of The Verkhovna Rada, as well as the Constitution, requires that this matter should first of all be considered by the Committees´. A. Yatseniuk then reiterated his promise to resolve this issue quickly, with full adherence to the Standing Orders, provided that the Committees, and The Standing Orders Committee in particular, are set up today, and the above Committee reaches agreement on this matter without delay.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine expressed his regret at the failure of The Deputy Faction Leaders to reach a final agreement on the Appointment of the First Vice-Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the Committees. As a result, this matter cannot be resolved by the above Committee.
A. Yatseniuk suggested that the matter of the early Termination of Authorities of the People's Deputies should be considered using an Ad-Hoc procedure, meaning that they will deviate from Clause 217 of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and consider the matter today, omitting its relevant consideration by the Standing Orders Committee.
A. Yatseniuk said that the Central Election Committee must resolve the Registration of the new People's Deputies, since 14 People's Deputies have terminated their Authorities prematurely. A full Constitutional Membership of The Verkhovna Rada must be formed, i.e. 14 members should be adjured.
The Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine notified the Auditorium of the decision taken by the Faction leaders. They expressed their political will, to refrain from blocking the machinery of the Central Election Committees. He said that following yesterday´s negotiations with The Chairman of the Central Election Committee, the latter has resolved to convene the Commission at 2 pm on Thursday to deal with the matter of Registration of the new People's Deputies.
A. Yatseniuk stressed the importance of political commitment to be made by all Factions that have delegated their Representatives to the Central Election Committee, to provide a coordinated and legal operation as regards the decision of the Registration of the new People's Deputies.
The Chair said that at the Meeting of the Conciliatory Council held yesterday, Viktor Yanukovych, Chairman of the Party of Regions Faction, gave political assurances that the Party of Regions would not block the operation of the Central Election Committee, but would contribute to the prompt Taking of The Oath by the new People's Deputies of Ukraine.
A.Yatseniuk then notified the Deputies of the decision taken by the Conciliatory Council. Those present at its meeting succeeded in assigning the posts of Committee Chairmen, First Vice-Chairmen and Secretaries. Only 2 Committees are now left, which are conditionally assigned. A. Yatseniuk expressed his hope of final completion of this assigning procedure within two days.
The Chair then advised of a motion moved by the Conciliatory Council members: to adopt the Agenda providing for a recess until Tuesday, which is required for the organisation of the work of Committees. The first item on Tuesday shall be the taking of The Oath by the new People's Deputies of Ukraine.
It was suggested, for today, to vote for the Termination of Authorities of the People's Deputies, and then to consider the organisation of the work of Committees.
The People's Deputies discussed this motion. The members of the Coalition Factions gave assurances as to the readiness of all the People's Deputies in their Factions to vote in favour of the Termination of Authorities of the People's Deputies elected to the Government. Some speakers also requested that the Minority Factions, in particular the Party of Regions, provide assurances of non-intrusion in the operation of the Central Election Committee.
The Members of the Party of Regions Faction gave assurances that they would keep their word in this matter.
Summarising, A. Yatseniuk once again drew attention to the Decision taken at the Conciliatory Council, which he was now going to put to the vote: the next Plenary Meeting of The Verkhovna Rada should be opened at 10am on Tuesday, and commence with consideration of the Taking of The Oath by the new People's Deputies of Ukraine.
This motion was not passed, with only 126 People's Deputies voting in favour.
Closing the discussion which followed the voting, the Chair said that the next item is the Termination of Authorities of the People's Deputies elected as Members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
A.Yatseniuk alerted the Deputies to another legal collision: There is no mechanism in the Standing Orders for inclusion into the Coalition of those People's Deputies who have become Members of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Two Factions, ‘The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and´ ‘Our Ukraine People's Self-Defence´ requested a recess.
The Chair asked all the Faction Leaders to convene a Meeting of the Conciliatory Council.
After the interval, A. Yatseniuk notified those present of the Meeting of the Conciliatory Council focused on the discussion of the sequence of items on the Agenda: should the matter of a recess and the Taking of The Oath by the People's Deputies, or that of the Termination of Authorities be considered first?
He remarked that no one questioned the necessity of the consideration of the Termination of Authorities, and the relevant decision, as agreed, was signed by all Faction Leaders.
The People's Deputies then resumed the discussion of the listing of items on the Agenda. After the discussion, a recess was announced in the Plenary Meeting.
After this interval the Chair put to the vote Draft Resolutions on the early Termination of Authorities of those People's Deputies appointed as Members of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The Verkhovna Rada passed 14 Resolutions effecting the early Termination of Authorities of The People's Deputies, Yuriy Pavlenko, Oleksiy Kucherenko, Hryhoriy Nemyria,Yosup Vinsky, Petro Krupko, Liudmyla Denysova, Georgiy Philipchuk, Viktor Pynzenyk, Yuriy Lutsenko, Mykola Onyshchuk, Vasyl Kuibida, Yuriy Yekhanurov, Olexander Turchynov, and Yulia Tymoshenko. This Resolution was passed by a majority of votes of the People's Deputies.
The People's Deputies then voted to hold the next Plenary Meeting of the First Session after the Meeting of the Central Election Committee, with the first item on the Agenda being the Taking of The Oath by the People's Deputies of Ukraine.
This decision was seconded by 244 votes. The Party of Regions and CPU Factions did not take part in the voting.
The Plenary Meeting was then closed.