Sitting of Conciliation Commission

Sitting of the Conciliation Commission (Board) of parliamentary factions (parliamentary groups)

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov opened the sitting of the board.

He announced that an extraordinary plenary sitting of the Verkhovna Rada is to start today at 1:30 pm, with 17 issues to be considered.

The presiding officer gave the floor to the first vice speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, who briefed on how legislative initiatives would be developed.

Later on, the vice speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk stressed in her speech the need to develop a national programme for combating the coronavirus disease and overcoming the economic crisis.

Representatives of factions and groups spoke at the meeting as well.

Dmytro Razumkov gave then the floor to the Deputy Minister of Health - Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine Viktor Liashko, who reported about the state of play in the nationwide fight against the coronavirus disease. He also briefed on the situation with the provision of protective gear, testing tools and facilities, and further plans for managing the quarantine.

Committees heads also spoke at the meeting.

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov closed the sitting of the Conciliation Commission.

Notes on the margin

• Dmytro Razumkov

“The Parliament is ready to assist the government to overcome adverse effects of the pandemic as soon as possible,” -- Dmytro Razumkov

During the sitting of the Conciliation Commission, the Verkhovna Rada speaker Dmytro Razumkov expressed his thanks to chairpersons of VRU committees and all MPs for their productive work, despite certain access restrictions to Parliament's buildings.

“The committees met almost constantly, even more often than usual.  The body of groundwork made by the committees that will help the state to get out of the post-quarantine situation and return to normal life will definitely be brought to the hall,” he averred.

Dmytro Razumkov also stressed the entire preparedness of the Parliament to assist the government and other vertical authorities in the shortest possible time to overcome the negative consequences of the pandemic, which has affected not only Ukraine but the whole world as well.

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada noted that 17 issues had been put on the agenda of today's extraordinary plenary session, including a weighty portion of international ratifications, which are supremely necessary to revive Ukraine’s after-quarantine economy.

• Ruslan Stefanchuk

“A positive feedback towards the draft bill on all-Ukrainian referendum has just been received from leading international organizations,” -- Ruslan Stefanchuk

Today, April 30, at the meeting of the Conciliation Commission, the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, briefed the audience about the body of legislative work done of late. Thus, according to him, the draft law on all-Ukrainian referendum drafted by an ad hoc working group has already received positive reviews from leading international organizations, in particular, from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). Peer reviews are also expected from Swiss institutions and the Venice Commission.

Ruslan Stefanchuk thanked the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine for its assistance in translating the bill into English.

"After the quarantine is over, there will take place a final meeting of the working group, where the bill will be finalized and then submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for consideration," the first vice speaker stated.

Ruslan Stefanchuk also apprised that in accordance with an executive order of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, there had been set up a working group tasked to draft a bill on parliamentary opposition.

"Just as the quarantine machine runs down, a legislative work plan of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for 2020 will be tabled to the parliament," Ruslan Stefanchuk announced.

• Olena Kondratiuk

“Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has to publicly present a plan for getting out of the quarantine and economic crisis at an extraordinary session of parliament,” – Rada’s vice speaker Olena Kondratiuk

The Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk thinks that the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal should be invited to an extraordinary session of parliament in order to publicly inform the society on how the government is going to get out of the quarantine and economic crisis.

“The Cabinet of Ministers has recently introduced a phase-by-phase plan to withdraw from the quarantine. However, this document was never discussed with the Verkhovna Rada, as was the government's so called adaptive quarantine. I do therefore request that you invite the Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to an extraordinary meeting of the Verkhovna Rada.  He should publicly present a plan to mitigate quarantine measures and overcome the economic crisis,” Olena Kondratiuk stressed.

In her opinion, MPs should be able to ask the Prime Minister about the preconditions and ways of implementing each stage of that plan.

“We also need to hear whether the government has a strategy to overcome the economic crisis and further combat adverse effects of the pandemic on all walks of life.  We are interested in what the government is going to do to support the most vulnerable categories of Ukraine’s population, small and medium-sized businesses,” the vice speaker of the Verkhovna Rada said.

In addition, the Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada called for effective communication between the government and the parliament. She brought to mind the Prime Minister D. Shmyhal’s promise to create a joint anti-crisis staff with the participation of the leadership of parliament, leaders of all parliamentary factions and groups, which had never started its working though.