The sitting was attended by MPs of Ukraine, representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Central Election Commission, the Institute of Legislation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and experts from leading NGOs.
The Chairperson of the Working Group, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk, opening the sitting, noted that the issues of subject, types, number of issues, legal consequences and subjects of initiating a local referendum are decisive in the draft law on local referendum.
Co-Chair of the Board of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition Council Yulia Kyrychenko, reporting on the subject of the local referendum, noted that any issues of local significance may be put to a local referendum, except those that cannot be the subject of a local referendum under current Ukrainian legislation.
In this regard, the members of the working group held a discussion on issues that cannot be the subject of a local referendum.
Members of the Central Election Commission Pavlo Lyubchenko and Volodymyr Perepelyuk, Chairperson of the Board of the OPORA Civic Network Olha Aivazovska, Professor of the Institute of Legislation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Kuyan and Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine Oleksandr Banchuk expressed their views on the subject of the local referendum.
In particular, it was proposed to determine that the subject of a local referendum may be issues related to the powers of the territorial community, the powers of bodies and officials of local self-government of the territorial community, as well as issues that do not fall within the competence of other bodies in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine.
The members of the Working Group also expressed their views and held a constructive discussion on the subjects of local referendums, the legal consequences of holding local referendums and the number of issues that can be put to a referendum.
Summing up, Ruslan Stefanchuk instructed the members of the Working Group to work out proposals for the specific formulation of the subject of local self-government and cases that are taken out of the subject of local self-government before the next meeting, and prepare to discuss an equally important issue of holding a local referendum – its financing.