On November 24, Secretariat employees of VRU Committees took part in a training to come to know the beta version of the Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws and the Electronic Register of NGOs.

The Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws was designed within the USAID RADA Program in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It was created in accordance with the recommendation of the European Parliament Mission concerning the internal reform and institutional capacity of the Verkhovna Rada. The Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws makes it possible for a user to look through the bills being discussed, follow the discussion, and get a link to the card. In addition, the user can discuss not only a document as a whole but also particular articles.

Ihor Kohut, Director of the USAID RADA Program, emphasized the importance of launching these information resources:

Oleksii Sydorenko, Head of Computerized Systems Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said,

Victoriia Baklazhenko, Project Manager of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, presented the Electronic Register of NGOs containing information on non-governmental organizations that can collaborate with committees. The register, designed by the Agency, provides full information about an organization, its fields of activity, funding, employee information and contact details. If the organization is not in the database, a committee may send a request for cooperation.

The database is enlarged by way of filling in the form by NGOs, while the data provided are carefully checked. The committees can invite organizations to events, hearings, expert discussions, including development of innovative tools such as Shadow Reports and Policy Papers.

On November 24, 2016, the Chysta Polityka (Pure Politics) Press Center in Chernihiv hosted a presentation of new electronic resources that help make Parliament more transparent – the Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws and the Electronic Register of Non-Governmental Organizations (E-Register of NGOs).

Oleksandr Zaslavskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, had a 1.5-hour talk with Chernihiv activists and interested residents of the city discussing how these resources could help involve the public in discussing draft laws before they are submitted to the specialized committees of the Verkhovna Rada and contribute to effective cooperation with the committees themselves.

The Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws was designed and prepared within the USAID RADA Program in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in accordance with the recommendation of the European Parliament Mission on internal reform and capacity building of the Verkhovna Rada.

The Portal will become a communication link between the staff of committees, MPs, expert groups and the public in order to improve the national legislation. The resource provides the opportunity for a committee to initiate a public discussion of a draft law and for the public to initiate a discussion. In the future, it is planned to expand the possibilities of the portal: for example, to involve only a certain category of people, first of all experts, by setting certain filters.

In order to be included in the Electronic Register of NGOs, designed by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, it is necessary to fill in the form.

Participants took an active part in the discussion asking critical questions and making suggestions on how to improve these electronic tools.

On November 21, on the premises of the restaurant “Stargorod Nikolaev” in Mykolayiv-city was held a Town Hall Meeting on the topic “Organization of Urban Space in Mykolayiv. How to Make Soborna Street More Comfortable for Residents of the City”. The event was organized by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives with the help of Mykolayiv Development Agency and Interns’ League, with the support of Western NIS Enterprise Fund and USAID.

Almost 150 residents of the city were looking for answers to the following questions:

• setting up temporary constructions for trade and entertainment services,
• setting up various types of advertising inventory (bill-boards, street lights, banners, posters, mobile stands, etc.),
• changing the original facade appearance in violation of the State Building Regulations.

Opening the event, Oleksandr Zaslavskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, spoke of experience with Town Hall Meetings, which come from the US, and practical cases of its application in Ukraine.

The participants worked in small groups at the desks, accompanied by moderators and note-takers (secretaries), and analyzed opinions via the local network – comments and suggestions were displayed on screens.

They discussed scenarios that had been developed with the assistance of Yevhenii Poliakov, expert from the State Architectural Construction Inspection in Mykolayiv oblast, who actively contributed to the work by helping the participants understand all the city-planning intricacies.

Yevheniya Dulko, Project Manager at Mykolayiv Development Agency, said the following:

Scenarios for discussion

Problem No. 1
Excessive number of randomly located temporary constructions for trade and entertainment services on Soborna Street
• Option 1
• Option 2

Problem No. 2
Advertising on Soborna Street
• Option 1
• Option 2

Problem No. 3
Change of original facades by private owners of apartments and premises
• Option 1
• Option 2

Voting results:

On November 22, 2016, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy and Justice held a roundtable discussion on “Reforming Parliamentary Procedures: Constitutional and Legal Analysis”.

The event was held jointly by parliamentary Committees on Legal Policy and Justice and on Rules of the Parliamentary Procedure and Support to Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in cooperation with the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and USAID RADA Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly, implemented by the East Europe Foundation.

The roundtable was attended by MPs of Ukraine, representatives of state authorities, NGOs and associations, academics, and experts.

The roundtable discussion focused on the necessity of reforming the Ukrainian Parliament, present-day challenges, and possible ways of improving the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The event was coordinated by V.P. Yanitskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Legal Policy and Justice. The People’s Deputy drew attention to the fact that the effectiveness of the legislative function of the Verkhovna Rada in Ukraine tended to be evaluated solely by quantitative indicators.

Ihor Kohut, Director of USAID RADA Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly, pointed out to the significance of the event which brought together the two Parliamentary Committees to advance the parliamentary reform. He drew attention to donors’ assistance in strengthening the Committees’ capacity, through the use of electronic tools for public involvement in particular.

The following main problems of the legislative process in Ukraine were singled out:
• poor predictability,
• MPs’ abuse of the right of legislative initiative combined with their insufficiently active role in the legislative process,
• increase in the functional load on the Verkhovna Rada’s Secretariat due to the increase in the number of bills being put to the vote,
• “necessity” of prompt adoption of bills, which results in their low quality,
• adoption of instruction-like laws,
• disregard of the provisions of the Constitution when adopting laws, and
• continuous violations of the Rules of Procedure (ad hoc solutions, or even neglect thereof).

The participants exchanged views on the possibility and feasibility of restricting MPs’ right of legislative initiative, as well as setting a maximum fixed number of legislative initiatives which can be considered by the Parliament of Ukraine during its regular session.

Dmytro Lubinets, Secretary of the Committee on Rules of the Parliamentary Procedure and Support to Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said in his speech that the recommendations of the European Parliament Mission served as a basis for improving the institutional capacity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

He said the following:

According to the information contained in the report and the Roadmap on Internal Reform of Parliament, from October 2014 to October 2015 MPs registered two thousand draft laws, of which 626 were discussed but only 140 passed. The coefficient of efficiency is only 7%. We can compare this to 45 draft laws submitted by the President with the efficiency coefficient to be 84% and 215 legislative initiatives of the Cabinet of Ministers with the coefficient to be 40%.

Oleksandr Chernenko, MP, said,

On November 18-19, 2016, the Sixth International Conference “Parliamentary Readings” took place at the House of Official Receptions (Kyiv, 22, Hrushevskoho Str.).

The Conference was organized by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives in partnership with the Faculty of Legal Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Social Technologies of the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” and the Department of Parliamentarism and Political Management of the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.

Welcome speeches were delivered by Ihor Kohut, Director of the USAID RADA Program, Oleksandr Zaslavskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Denys Azarov, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, Vasyl Kuibida, President of the National Academy of Public Management under the President of Ukraine.

Serhiy Holovatyi, founder and President of the Ukrainian Legal Foundation, Minister of Justice of Ukraine (1995-1997, 2005-2006), made a presentation entitled “20 Years of the Constitution: Assessment and Retrospective”.

On November 18, thematic sections covered the following issues:
• Parliamentary Reforms (Parliament at the Crossroads)
• Parliamentary Ethics: The Path toward Legitimation

The first section was moderated by Oleksandr Zaslavskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, while its keynote speaker was Denys Yakovlev, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology, National University “Odessa Law Academy”.

The section devoted to parliamentary ethics was moderated by Svitlana Matviienko, Chairwoman of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives; keynote speakers were Ihor Kohut, Director of the USAID RADA Program and Yuliia Tyshchenko, Head of Civil Society Development Programs at the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research.

On November 19, speakers focused on the prospects of development of Ukrainian parliamentarism and parliamentary activity in the context of the enforcement of democratic principles.

Sections were moderated by Olena Ivashchenko, Doctor of Law, Institute of International Relations of Taras Shevchenko National Universiy of Kyiv, and Oksana Shcherbaniuk, Chair of Department, Doctor of Law, Associate Professor of Yurii Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University.

Vsevolod Rechytskyi, PhD, Associate Professor of the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law Academy of Ukraine, discussed the topic “Can Ukraine Have an Official Constitutional Doctrine?”.

Parliamentary Readings 2016 came to a close by announcing the winners of the essay contest dedicated to the memory of Professor of Political Science Yuriy Shveda.

The conference is part of the project implemented by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives with the support of USAID RADA Program: Responsible, Accountable, Democratic Assembly. The RADA program, implemented by the East Europe Foundation, promotes the formation of a responsible, accountable and democratic representative body.

On November 16, the Agency for Legislative Initiatives held a Training on Interparty Dialogue Skills for MPs of Ukraine in cooperation with the USAID RADA Program, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, and the OSCE ODIHR in the office of the USAID RADA program.

During the two-hour presentation and interactive discussion on the interparty dialogue, the participants examined the significant differences between the notions of unanimity, compromise and consensus, as well as things that might go wrong in political negotiations in the case of wrong style and goals.

The trainer of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy Jerome Scheltens explained the difference between negotiation, mediation, and dialogue and why the latter can ensure sustainable win-win results.

The MPs bombarded the trainer with pointed questions, and to answer them, Mr. Scheltens had to use the entire arsenal of international experience.

The activity takes place in the framework of the project of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives “Support for Democratic Political Culture in Parliament through Political Dialogue and Ethical Standards” implemented with the support of MATRA Program (Netherlands Embassy) and in partnership with the OSCE ODIHR Project “Strengthening Dialogue Among Civil Society and With Key Government Stakeholders in Ukraine on Human Dimension Issues”, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy and USAID RADA Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly.

The project implies creating a dialogue platform for discussion of ethical dilemmas, which will provide for an inclusive process of the elaboration of a Code of Conduct for the Parliament or another mechanism to regulate parliamentary ethics, the approximation to international standards in accordance with the recommendations of the mission of the European Parliament, and the restoration of confidence in the Verkhovna Rada.

On November 16, 2016, at 9:00, the Subcommittee on Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency of the Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety held a meeting where experts of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives presented a preliminary version of the shadow report on the fulfillment of the Activity Plan for the Implementation of the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan for 2020. The full version of the report will be released in early 2017.

On November 15, the Agency for Legislative Initiatives jointly with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, the OSCE ODIHR, and the USAID RADA Program held a training on interparty dialogue skills for NGOs in PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Velyka Vasylkivska/Baseina str., 1/3-2).

Jerome Scheltens, trainer, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, explained the intricacies of meaning and distinctions between “agreement” and “consensus”:

Uliana Poltavets, Program Director of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and coordinator of the project “Support for the Democratic Political Culture in the Verkhovna Rada via Political Dialogue and Ethical Standards”, said the following:

The project implies creating a dialogue platform for discussion of ethical dilemmas, which will provide for an inclusive process of the elaboration of a Code of Conduct for the Parliament or another mechanism to regulate parliamentary ethics, the approximation to international standards in accordance with the recommendations of the mission of the European Parliament, and the restoration of confidence in the Verkhovna Rada.

During the training, Jerome Scheltens expanded on main principles of interparty dialogue, methods of determining positions, interests, needs, and other important issues.

The activity takes place in the framework of the project of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives “Support for Democratic Political Culture in Parliament through Political Dialogue and Ethical Standards” implemented with the support of MATRA Program (Netherlands Embassy) and in partnership with the OSCE ODIHR Project “Strengthening Dialogue Among Civil Society and With Key Government Stakeholders in Ukraine on Human Dimension Issues”, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy and USAID RADA Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly.

On November 10, 2016, the press center of Khakriv Today hosted a presentation of new electronic resources that help make Parliament more transparent – the Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws and the Electronic Register of Non-Governmental Organizations (E-Register of NGOs).

Victoriia Baklazhenko, Project Manager of the Department of Parliamentary Reform of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, and Andriy Pylypenko, PR-manager, told how these resources could involve the public in discussing draft laws before they are submitted to specialized parliamentary committees and help to cooperate effectively with the committees.

Olena Sotnyk, MP, pointed out to the importance of such tools not only in Kyiv but also in all regions of Ukraine. Kharkiv became the first city, and subsequently the new e-tools would be made known to the public in other parts of the country.

Participants took an active part in the discussion of the new electronic tools. Their proposals will be included in the Terms of Reference for further improvement of the Electronic Register and the Portal.

You can register your NGO in the Electronic Register by filling in the form.

By the end of 2016, the resources already integrated into the Verkhovna Rada portal would work in a test mode to troubleshoot possible problems.

On November 4, 2016, in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine there was held a presentation of new e-resources that will help make Parliament activities more transparent: the Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws and the Electronic Register of Non-Governmental Organizations (E-Register of NGOs).

Thanks to these resources, the public will have the opportunity to contribute to the discussion of draft laws before they are submitted for consideration to specialized parliamentary committees.

The Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws, developed with the support of the USAID RADA Program and at the initiative of the Computerized Systems Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, will make it possible to citizens:

• to get acquainted with draft laws submitted to the VRU for discussion,
• to get acquainted with the work of specialized committees of the Parliament,
• to participate in the discussion of draft laws.

The Portal for Public Discussion of Draft Laws was designed in response to the recommendations of the European Parliament on internal reforms of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It is aimed to improve its institutional capacity and step up public involvement in the legislative process.

The other tool, i.e. Electronic Register of Non-Governmental Organizations (E-Register of NGOs), is designed to ensure public consultation during the work on draft resolutions in VRU committees. The E-Register was created by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives within the framework of the USAID RADA Program.

Thanks to this resource, committees will have up-to-date information on public associations, their expert input, management and expert composition, etc. The committees will be able to use this e-resource, which currently includes more than 80 organizations, to effectively involve non-governmental organizations in cooperation with one another. An application for cooperation can be submitted here.