Speaker Razumkov insists on parliament’s being farsighted in conquering impending viral hazards
16 March 2020, 12:15
“To avoid such problems as other countries have, there should be applied a proactive approach,” -- Dmytro Razumkov
The speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov opened a Conciliation Commission meeting of parliamentary factions and groups and called on MPs to put all the politicking aside and show consolidated work against the challenges facing today’s Ukraine and the world on the whole.
“Currently, we are just on the point of imposing certain restrictions. Every effort must be made now to prevent the epidemic so that what we see in many countries in Europe and Asia does not happen in Ukraine. Therefore, I do consider that all the measures proposed by the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine and the President are timely and adequately responsive to the challenges of the time,” the Chairman emphasized.
Dmytro Razumkov also proposed to hold on March 17 an extraordinary session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation (8-10 am) to review appropriate amendments to the parliament’s work-plan calendar as well as the bill on addressing the coronavirus threat.
He appealed to members of the Conciliation Commission for giving their permission to invite representatives of other agencies and institutions to the extraordinary sitting of the parliament. “As you know, access to the Verkhovna Rada buildings is currently restricted, but this does not affect the openness of our work. The “Rada” TV channel will be broadcasting all plenary and committee meetings, and we do thus remain as open to the public as possible,” Dmytro Razumkov stressed.
As for the changes to the work-plan calendar of the Verkhovna Rada, the speaker proposed to reshuffle the order of plenary and committee weeks and to switch the parliament over to a committee-work mode until April 3, 2020.
“The funds appropriated for the parliamentary activity will be redirected to a reserve fund aimed to support the work of the Secretariat, the deputy corps and other financing items that might be of moment for the country,” the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada commented.
Dmytro Razumkov also expressed his hope that the parliament would demonstrate the unity in its true meaning.