At the briefing in the Parliament on Tuesday, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, summed up the work of the Seventh Session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of VI Convocation.
Mykola Tomenko announced that for the seventh session, the Parliament had scrutinized 758 bills (21 submitted by the President, 138 by the Cabinet of Ministers, 596 by the People´s Deputies of Ukraine, 3 by the National Bank), and at least 300 draft resolutions. 126 Laws of Ukraine were adopted and signed by the President of Ukraine.
Speaking on the legislative work of the Parliament, M. Tomenko singled out certain tendencies that characterized the last session. First of all, Deputy Chairman stressed that a great number of governmental and presidential initiatives were supported with the help of the People´s Deputies of Ukraine. Thus, the People´s Deputies endorsed certain controversial bills.
The Second peculiarity was the fact that the team of the President of Ukraine vetoed the bills submitted by the Government or the deputies of the Party of Regions. He announced that during the seventh session, the President had vetoed 16 Laws. Furthermore, there are 8 Laws in the Parliament that have been returned by the President for the repeated scrutiny. 3 of them were submitted by the Government of M. Azarov, 2 - by the Government of Yu. Tymoshenko, 2 - by the People´s Deputies of Party of Regions, and 1 by the Communist Party of Ukraine. M. Tomenko believes that the presidential team tries to demonstrate that the President is ‘above the process´ and is independent in his decisions. M. Tomenko is also convinced that such tendency will be observed during the eighth session.
Another peculiarity of the seventh session is an attempt not only to weaken the status of the Parliament, but also to omit the legislative function of the Verkhovna Rada, transforming in into an advisory body.
On the request of mass media, Mykola Tomenko reported on the presence and participation of the People´s Deputies in the plenary meetings of the Verkhovna Rada for the period of September 7-January 14, 2011 (52 sittings). Thus, according to the written registration, 20 People´s Deputies were present in all the plenary meetings, while 29 People´s Deputies missed only one sitting. Mykola Tomenko also informed that there were 17 deputies who failed to attend at least one sitting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Mykola Tomenko emphasised that there were People´s Deputies who " committed an offense against the Parliament and Ukrainian nation for three times." "They violated the Constitution of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine, holding several offices, and failed to attend at least one of the parliamentary sitting, although voted in line with their party ", M. Tomenko stated. It concerns H. Vasilev, Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of Ukraine, and D. Salamatin, Head of the Ukrspetsexpport State-Owned Company.
Press Service of M. Tomenko