The discussion was organized by the USAID RADA Program and the Association of People's Deputies of Ukraine.

The participants in the discussion — the interns of the Parliamentary Internship Program, Presidential Administration Internship Program, and the concerned youth — were addressed by the organizers and special guests, in particular, Ihor Kohut, Oleksandr Moroz, Volodymyr Stretovych, Viktor Shyshkin, Viktor Musiyaka, Borys Bespalyi, Ivan Zayets, Volodymyr Kryzhanivskyi, and Elina Shyshkina.

Director of the USAID RADA Program Ihor Kohut noted that such events are unique opportunity for the youth to discuss points of interest with experienced politicians and experts.

Former chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz called on the youth not only to hear the speeches of the politicians, but also make own conclusions. "We have to focus on making each and every citizen of Ukraine independent," the speaker said.

 

Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of V-VI convocations Volodymyr Stretovych called on the youth to take care of their future.

First prosecutor general of independent Ukraine / retired judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Viktor Shsyshkin focused on the issue of civilization split in the constitutional processes. He believes that the necessity for the establishment of the constitutional commissions was expedient only during the rule of former president of Ukraine (1991-1994) Leonid Kravchuk, when Ukraine just declared its independence.

One of the authors of the Ukrainian Constitution Viktor Musiyaka called on the youth to think, read and develop.

People's deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of I-IV and VI convocations Ivan Zayets noted that one of the problems in Ukraine is the absence of proper vision of the Constitution's role.

After the end of the official part of the event, the work within three sections started.

The participants in the first section entitled "What form of government does Ukraine need — presidential, parliamentary-presidential or else" admitted that in compliance with its Basic Law, Ukraine is a parliamentary-presidential republic, however, taking in account current events it has all the features of a presidential-parliamentary republic. They also noted that the local self-government reform is generally in line with the demands of the society, however, its real outcome will be obvious only in several years. At the same time, the judicial reform is not so unambiguous, however, the participants in the meeting highly appreciated it as regards the activity of the prosecutor's office. They also noted that the institution of appointment of judges cannot guarantee removal of all corruptogenic aspects within the tenure of judges. The participants highlighted three requirements to effective control of the society over the bodies of state power, in particular: free access to information, accountability to the society and control bodies, in particular, financial accountability, and absolute independence of the control bodies.

 

The participants in the second section moderated by Viktor Musiyaka and Volodymyr Kryzhanivskyi discussed the issue of political structure of the society and the Ukrainian Parliament. Their also discussed the election system. The participants agreed that one of Ukraine's major tasks today is to oust representatives of business from the power, to ensure entire transparency of financing of political parties and elections, as well as to hold political awareness process among the representatives of the Ukrainian society. Viktor Musiyaka pointed out the problem of the establishment of political parties around their leaders and noted that for as long as there are no ideology-based parties in Ukraine, real coalition and opposition are impossible in the Ukrainian Parliament. In speaking of the regulation of the coalition and opposition's activity, Musiyaka noted that the Parliament has to have specified status and authorities for the opposition. The participants in the second section also noted that the parliamentary coalition at the Ukrainian Parliament has to be formed by parliamentary factions. Both participants and organizers of the section called the proportional election system with open regional lists the best for our state. At the end of the section, Musiyaka said that such changes in Ukraine are not a matter of one day and everything has to start with deeper understanding of any problem.

The third section moderated by Volodymyr Stretovych, Viktor Shyshkin and Elina Shyshkina was dedicated to the matter of "Attitude to judicial reform initiated by the President of Ukraine." The participants informed that as a result of the reform Ukraine received effective and uncorrupted system, however, the judicial establishment still remains quite closed and corporate. Besides, they noted that the issue of elective judiciary remained in dispute. According to the participants in the discussion, the judicial reform has not yet been completed and the society remains somewhat estranged from the process.

The participants in the event also concluded that Ukraine is not ready for election of judges by the population as emotions in that process are unacceptable.

At the end of the meeting, all its participants presented their findings and the moderators provided their conclusions.
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