19 May 2016, 19:40
The Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives has prepared the presentation of a research entitled "Expert and analytical support to the legislative process in the European Union" in the framework of the annual report by the European Information and Research Center under the Parliament of Ukraine as part of Europe Day initiated by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada. The event was attended by Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Secretariat Volodymyr Bondarenko, Secretariat employees, people's deputies of Ukraine, representatives of the Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives.
According to Ihor Kohut, the head of the Board of the Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives, we celebrate the anniversary of the European Information and Research Center under the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which is supported by USAID RADA program. "The Center is tasked with creating a research service under the Parliament, updating the Parliament's library with an extremely important issue under the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which is stated in the recommendations of the European Parliament."
According to Arkadii Nyzhnyk, deputy head of the Central Scientific Experts Office of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the European Information and Research Center is a good tool especially for the Verkhovna Rada committees, as they are responsible for drafting the legislation.
Timur Tashtanov, coordinator of the European Parliament capacity building program for the Verkhovna Rada, said that on the one hand people's deputies often complain on the quality of draft laws submitted by the government, and on the other hand government officials complain that the deputies do not vote for their initiatives, that they block them with the alternative draft laws.
"In this case we can talk about certain crisis of confidence between the two institutions. The introduction of an Institute of White Papers is aimed specifically at solving this problem. In the Ukrainian realities already this year we will be able to carry out experiment and agree that the Government before elaborating the very draft law, first will draft a concept of this draft law, the so-called White Paper, will submit it to the committee, to people’s deputies, bring it up for the public discussion, then will receive comments and remarks, adequately finalize it and only then elaborate the draft law," he said.