Plenary meetings on December 11, 2014

THE VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE CONTINUED WORK IN THE PLENARY MODE ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2014.  

Having opened the morning meeting, Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman announced about establishing inter-faction deputy union "Agricultural Union" (Chairperson Leonid Kozachenko, Co-Chairpersons Stepan Barna, Hennadii Kryvosheia, Ruslan Sydorovych, and Vadym Ivchenko).

The Chairperson presented for consideration the agenda of the first session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the eighth convocation. He informed that the draft resolution includes all bills registered as of December 10.

People's deputies upheld the draft resolution (Reg. No. 1002) with 349 votes in entirety with consideration of the voiced proposals.

Volodymyr Groysman gave the floor to Prime Minister of Ukraine Arsenii Yatseniuk who reported on the Government' Action Program.

The Prime Minister claimed the Action Program was elaborated on the basis of the Coalition Agreement; and it is focused on the European integration.

In words of A.Yatseniuk, the main threat today is a threat to independence. "This threat is connected primarily and exclusively with Russian military aggression". 

Another challenge for Ukraine is economy losses due to the war. He reminded that 20% of Ukrainian economy is concentrated in Luhansk and Donetsk. 

The Prime Minister also noted the issues on deregulation and adherence to European standards. He said that 1500 different kinds of Soviet standards will be switched to European ones. Ukrainian economy should fully meet the criteria and realities that exist in the EU. In general, 28 thousand new standards will be introduced. A.Yatseniuk said that it is quite long and difficult work on technical regulation. For this purpose, a technical mission of the European Union will help us transfer Ukraine’s economy to real European rails–it means quality and standards.

Then, the Chairperson of the Government spoke about decentralization and regional development. He mentioned that work on this issue will lie in adopting new Budget Code stipulating transferring additional rights, authorities, and responsibilities to local government bodies.   

A.Yatseniuk reminded about the first package of the toughest and the most reformist laws against corruption, adopted two months ago. Next, according to him, it is necessary to establish the National Anti-Corruption Bureau; and he asked the MPs to accelerate appointment of its chairperson.

The law stipulating the creation of the National Anti-Corruption Commission was also adopted.  According to this law, all the declarations of officials will be published in the electronic database.

A.Yatseniuk also informed about those chapters of the Government' Action Program that refer to reforms of the law-enforcement, justice, and judicial systems.  

Then, the Prime Minister informed about one of the most complicated elements in the Action Program – economic policy. A.Yatseniuk also reported about measures suggested by the Action Program in the energy sphere.

A.Yatseniuk called social sphere the most vulnerable and complicated. Speaking about the labour market, the Prime Minister informed that the new Labour Code will be adopted in 2015.

A.Yatseniuk reminded about temporarily displaced persons. "This is also a part of social policy. In general, over 600 thousand temporarily displaced persons have been registered", he said. 

The Chairperson of the Government informed about chapters of the Action Program on education, healthcare system and said that it is high time to adopt the law on medical insurance. He also spoke about cultural policy. 

The Prime Minister answered questions of people's deputies.

Representatives of factions "People's Front" and "Petro Poroshenko Bloc" upheld the Government's Action Program. Representatives of factions "Opposition Bloc", "People's Will", and "Economic Development" claimed they did not uphold the Government's Action Program. 

After the discussion, Volodymyr Groysman claimed that the coalition demands a break and instructed the Committee on the Rules of Procedure to hold a meeting during this break regarding the resolution which regulates forming the composition of committees, and announced a 30-minute break. 

After the break, Prime Minister A.Yatseniuk made concluding remarks.

The Verkhovna Rada approved the Government's Action Program. 269 MPs voted for the respective resolution.

Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Kniazevych reported on the draft law "On the Security and Defence Council of Ukraine" re improving coordination and control in the national security and defence security sphere (Reg. No. 1343). The Verkhovna Rada adopted the bill as a basis in the first reading. 

People's deputy Oleh Liashko informed about the draft resolution "On electing chairpersons, first deputy chairpersons, deputy chairpersons, secretaries, and members of committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the eighth convocation". He claimed the draft suggests "prohibiting politicians who votes for "dictatorship" laws of January 16 to occupy leading positions in parliamentary committees".

The Chairperson announced abreak.

First Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Rules of Procedure Pavlo Pynzenyk said the draft resolution suggests withdrawing from leadership positions such MPs: Bobov, Bohuslaiev, Bondar, Hirshfeld, Derkach, Katsuba, Kisse, Klimov, Labaziuk, Poplavskyi, Razvadovskyi, Feldman, Shypko, and Shkiria.

264 people's deputies adopted the resolution.

MP Yurii Lutsenko reported about another draft resolution on amendments to the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine "On electing chairpersons, first deputy chairpersons, deputy chairpersons, secretaries, and members of committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the eighth convocation" (Reg. No. 1315). He suggested appointing Serhii Skuratovskyi as the Chairperson of the Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Communal Services, Serhii Rybalka - Chairperson of the Committee on Financial Policy and Banking, Ihor Mosiichuk - Chairperson of the Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement.

247 MPs adopted the resolution.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted the Resolution "On the Address of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the President of the Russian Federation on releasing Ukrainian pilot and people's deputy of the eighth convocation Nadiia Viktorivna Savchenko" (Reg. No. 1095) with consideration of proposals of the specialized committee. Amendments suggest releasing not only Nadiia Savchenko but all the other captured Ukrainians.

People's deputy Svitlana Zalishchuk informed about three cases of impersonal voting by MP I.Brychenko. She also said that the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada did not put to vote the amendments introduced by Mustafa Naiiem on not appointing Oles Dovhyi as the deputy Chairperson of the Committee.   

The Chairperson suggested voting for two resolutions on changing the administrative-territorial structure of Donetsk Oblast and then returning to the resolution under Reg. No. 1291. 

The Verkhovna Rada adopted resolutions "On changing the administrative-territorial structure of Donetsk Oblast, changing and establishing borders of Artemivsk region of Donetsk Oblast" (Reg. No. 1282) and "On changing the administrative-territorial structure of Donetsk Oblast, changing and establishing borders of Volnovakha, Novoazovsk, and Telmanove regions of Donetsk Oblast" (Reg. No. 1283) with consideration of proposals of the specialized committee. 

Volodymyr Groysman put to the repeated vote the draft resolution under Reg. No. 1291.

The Resolution was adopted in entirety with 252 votes.

The Chairperson adjourned the plenary meeting.