The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is against introducing the institute of sergeant-at-arms to settle conflicts in the session hall. He said this answering the questions of the “Komsomolskaya Pravda v Ukraine” newspaper (“Komsomol Truth in Ukraine”).
V.Rybak claimed that he does not tend to establish “any police body to be situated in the parliamentary hall”. He believes that people’s deputies start fighting when they do not have the possibility to express their opinion. “It induces running to the tribune and blocking the work of the Parliament,” he said.
“In order to find common points of contact between the political forces, meetings in the committees and factions need to be held, and there is the Conciliatory Council,” the Chairman of the Parliament emphasized. He believes that the bills that are not ready to be considered in the session hall should not be submitted. They should be discussed in the committees. He also noted that there are no documents that would satisfy all parliamentarians, but, under no conditions, it can serve as a basis for conflicts in the session hall. “The ideas should be expressed only through voting. There is no other way,” V.Rybak stressed. He also added that “we can always come to terms. No sergeant-at-arms can help us do it.”
Among one of the preventive measures against fighting, the Chairman of the Parliament named the article of the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, according to which the most “active” people’s deputies should be asked to leave session hall for five days, in order not to disturb the work”. Overall, V.Rybak believes that, despite fights, only the best is kept in memory. And this is work.
Full text of the interview is published in the
newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda v Ukraine” (“Komsomol Truth in Ukraine”) of December
25, 2012.