04 March 2014, 14:41
PLENARY MEETING OF THE VERKHOVNA RADA OF UKRAINE OF THE SEVENTH CONVOCATION WAS HELD ON TUESDAY, MARCH 4, 2014.
288 people’s deputies registered to participate in the plenary meeting.
Having opened plenary session, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov announced that the people’s deputies Serhii Kliuiev and Volodymyr Nakonechnyi left the Party of Regions.
Oleksandr Turchynov noted that despite aggressive actions of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, stability is coming back to Ukraine. According to him, local administrations in the majority of oblasts start operating in a usual regime. He expressed conviction that the whole executive vertical will work in the normal regime in the nearest time.
Oleksandr Turchynov informed that today at night during the meeting of the UN Security Council, representative of the Russian Federation claimed that the Russian Federation has either already brought in the troops, or just plans to. They have not decided yet. This is done upon the request of the citizen of Ukraine Yanukovych.
Oleksandr Turchynov reminded that under the Constitution of Ukraine and Ukrainian legislation, only the Verkhovna Rada can, in case of necessity, take the decision on bringing foreign troops into its territory. “This is exclusively within the competence of the Parliament.” he stressed.
According to him, the Prosecutor’s General Office conducts investigation of mass killings in Ukraine. One of the main persons involved in these cases is the ex-President of Ukraine Yanukovych. “That is why the Prosecutor’s General Office will address the Russian Federation with a demand to extradite the ex-President,” he noted.
Oleksandr Turchynov noted that “in order to quickly alleviate tension in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Russian Federation should immediately bring the subdivisions of its armed forces and the Black Sea Fleet to the places of their permanent dislocation.”
Oleksandr Turchynov suggested formulate all the abovementioned ideas in the form of address of the Verkhovna Rada, which should emphasize that bringing of foreign troops into the territory of our state for normalization of situation is exclusively within the competence of the Parliament.”
The people’s deputies upheld the proposal by 239 votes.
The Presiding granted the floor to the representatives of deputy factions.
Leader of Svoboda faction Oleh Tiahnybok stressed that “we have never had such a mobilized single nation in the history of independent Ukraine.” “We want to remind that we cannot speculate with basic constitutional principles: the principle of state Ukrainian language and the principle of unitarity of the Ukrainian state, etc.”
Representative of the Communist Party of Ukraine A.Martyniuk noted that “We, as a Parliament, should do everything possible so that there was peace and order in Ukraine and that each citizen could feel protected against new authority.”
A.Martyniuk stressed that “our faction both consistently and insistently stands for preservation of territorial integrity and unity of our state” and informed of several faction’s proposals.
A.Martyniuk informed also that the faction will not vote until the main office of the CPU is freed and persecution of communists is stopped.
Representatives of other factions and groups expressed their gratitude to the citizens that “under such complicated circumstances, they turned out to be more wise and responsible than all the politicians together.
The speakers stood against federalization of Ukraine, stressing that “they will do everything possible for the decisions to be taken by local communities and the budgetary funds to be allocated with consideration of their needs.”
Commenting on the situation in Crimea, parliamentarians suggested resume work of Ukrainian-Russian Inter-parliamentary Commission.
The people’s deputies called on everyone to “pool efforts to overcome the systemic crisis in the country” and addressed the Ukrainian people stating that the rights of each person, especially pertaining to such sensitive issues as language, faith, and national issues, etc. will be considered.
Parliamentarians approved the agenda by 252 votes.
The people’s deputies considered the issue of ratification.
The Verkhovna Rada has ratified the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding between Ukraine as the Borrower and the European Union as the Creditor and the Credit Agreement between Ukraine as the Borrower and the National Bank of Ukraine as the Creditor on Providing Macro-Financial Assistance to Ukraine amounting to EUR 610 million on the part of the European Union by 280 votes.
Oleksandr Turchynov announced consideration of the issue on establishment of the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on elaboration of the bill on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine.
The Presiding informed that during the Conciliatory Council of deputy factions and groups there was made a proposal to establish Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on elaboration of the bill on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine. It was suggested that representatives of different factions and groups became members of this commission in order to consider all the proposals when making specifications to the draft Constitution of the parliamentary-presidential republic.
Parliamentarians upheld the resolution with consideration of proposals by 288 votes.
The Head of the High Council of Justice Oleksandr Lavrynovych reported on several draft resolutions on dismissal of judges.
Some of these resolutions were voted on.
People’s deputies noted that they did not understand why the issue of dismissing judges is being considered now, since representatives of factions and groups did not agree on it at the Conciliatory Council meeting. They stressed that having adopted resolutions on dismissing judges, it would be necessary to pay the dismissed judges enormous amounts of dismissal compensation.
The Chairman explained that the Conciliatory Council made a decision to adopt resolutions on judges exclusively according to age, state of health or court verdict. So he is also surprised about why this issue is being considered now.
Leader of “Svoboda” faction O.Tiahnybok informed that the issue on dismissing judges had not been agreed on at the Conciliatory Council meeting. “We stressed that such decision can not be adopted, and we can not dismiss judges with enormous amounts of dismissal compensation which we do not have in the Ukrainian budget. We need to inspect carefully everyone,” he said.
Then the Chairman withdrew the issue from consideration.
Oleksandr Turchynov announced that according to the resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine dd. February 28, Serhii Vlasenko is a people’s deputy. He said that “Batkivshchyna” has a vacancy which S.Vlasenko will fill, as A.Yatseniuk is no longer a people’s deputy.
People’s deputy Valerii Karpuntsov reported about the drat law on amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine re specification of accounting and registration of taxpayers. He suggested adopt it only as a basis, having instructed a specialized committee to reduce a term for its elaboration for the second reading.
People’s deputies adopted the bill as a basis with 259 votes.
The Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Spirituality Viacheslav Kyrylenko reported about the establishment of the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on elaboration of the draft law “On development and use of languages in Ukraine.” He said that this issue has emerged in society in connection with the necessity of elaborating new law on development and use of languages in Ukraine. According to him, there is a lot of discussion around this issue. Chairman of the Commission is Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Koshulynskyi. According to the speaker, this Commission should involve deputies of all factions and groups, as well as non-affiliated deputies; the expert part should consist of experts of all leading higher educational establishments of Ukraine and all Oblasts, regions and territories.
The people’s deputies voiced their suggestions to this draft. They suggested take into account the fact that the present system of education, which involves teaching in languages of national minorities, should be obligatory preserved.
Attention was also drawn to the fact that a false translation and ratification of European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages was made, instead of minority languages that can die and which should be protected by the state, a false translation was made and regional languages were included.
The speaker said that it is necessary to address the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other departments in order for them to provide an official interpretation, and a final official translation of the European Charter into the Ukrainian language.
V.Kyrylenko claimed that the Venice Commission should also provide a conclusion of the bill that would be elaborated by the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada. “If it is so, if there is such understanding, then we should be aware that till March 11 of this year we can elaborate our variant of the draft, but till March 11 of this year the Venice Commission will unlikely present its conclusion, and it is crucial in this situation,” he said.
V.Kyrylenko claimed that the Commission’s task is to “elaborate such law on the use of languages in Ukraine that would comply with article 10 of the Constitution of Ukraine.”
The Verkhovna Rada adopted the resolution on establishment of the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on elaboration of the draft law “On development and use of languages in Ukraine,” taking into account voiced proposals, with 275 votes.
The Verkhovna Rada has prematurely terminated powers of people’s deputy Stepan Kubiv in connection with a personal statement.
People’s deputy Nestor Shufrych informed about the meeting of representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with the leadership of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea last Friday. According to him, during the meeting those issues that are being discussed now by the Parliament and the society of the Autonomous Republic were discussed during the meeting.
N. Shufrych informed about the previous decision to form an inter-parliamentary working group on studying the issues of amending the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea regarding expansion of authorities of the Republic.
Oleksandr Turchynov claimed that the precondition for solving all problems of the Autonomous Republic is withdrawal of Russian military men to their military units. He said that they are obliged to leave the territory of Ukraine, particularly, of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
The Chairman reminded that during this week people’s deputies will work in committees and factions. According to him, under extreme conditions the Parliament has not been working in directions determined in committees. It is necessary to elaborate serious laws.
“Taking into account the present danger, the situation of our relations with the Russian Federation, and the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, I would ask people’s deputies not to leave Kyiv so that we could gather our Parliament for adopting necessary decisions,” claimed Oleksandr Turchynov, and announced a break till Tuesday, March 11.