Article by ALI for Dzerkalo Tyzhnia
911 days — that is how much time passed between the first sitting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation and the day Parliament approved the Presidential Decrees on the imposition of martial law and general mobilisation. On 3 September 2024, when the Verkhovna Rada opened its twelfth session, 923 days had passed since the declaration of martial law in 2022. In other words, the Verkhovna Rada has now been operating under martial law for longer than it functioned in normal conditions. Undoubtedly, the war in Ukraine has been ongoing since 2014, but the challenges that arose on 24 February 2022 were unprecedented.
At that point, Parliament had to adapt to a new reality — a shift that affected not only the content of legislative initiatives but also the structure of the legislative process itself. In the past three sessions, no more than 5% of adopted draft laws had been registered before the start of the full-scale invasion. In effect, the Verkhovna Rada formed a new agenda tailored to wartime conditions. However, this agenda is gradually losing its “emergency” nature and is beginning to resemble a regular parliamentary process.
The Agency for Legislative Initiatives conducted a monitoring of the Verkhovna Rada’s work from September 2024 to February 2025. Below are the key findings and trends.
Back to “Peacetime” Legislative Pace
Parliament has returned to the “peacetime” pace of work that was typical before the start of the full-scale invasion. The average time taken to adopt draft laws and the duration of debates in the plenary hall have increased significantly.
One of the most notable changes in the work of the Verkhovna Rada is the gradual return to the pre-war pace of legislative review. At the onset of the full-scale invasion (during the Rada’s seventh session), draft laws were adopted quickly, with consensus and efficiency — at that time, 90% of draft laws were considered in first reading in under two minutes.
Over the three years of full-scale war, the average duration from the registration of a draft law to its adoption in second reading has steadily increased. A substantial backlog of draft laws related to the “wartime” agenda has accumulated, pushing the average time for consideration to a record-high 335 days — the longest duration observed during the ninth convocation. This indicates that the speed of lawmaking, which was extremely high in the early months of the invasion, has now returned to standard levels.
Another sign of the return to pre-war working conditions is the increased duration of draft law debates in the plenary hall. Debates have returned to the Verkhovna Rada — and they are becoming longer. Some indicators over the past year and a half already show more time being spent on discussion than before the invasion. At times, MPs spend three hours or more debating a single draft law. If this trend continues, we may soon see new records set during the ninth convocation.
What Explains This Shift?
In the first six months of the war, there was an urgent need to rapidly adapt legislation to the conditions of martial law and the realities of full-scale war. Now, however, Parliament no longer needs to adopt laws in an emergency manner. The Verkhovna Rada has more time for drafting and discussing legislative proposals. Moreover, the agenda has once again come to include issues not directly related to martial law.
Secondly, the share of draft laws receiving consensus support has decreased. In the early months of the full-scale war, MPs adopted most decisions almost unanimously, as they concerned pressing security and defence needs. Today, that period of “unity” has ended, and Parliament is increasingly faced with contentious issues — leading to significantly longer debates.
Thirdly, the easing of information restrictions on covering the work of the Verkhovna Rada has contributed to the return of lengthier plenary sessions. MPs have once again begun to use the parliamentary rostrum actively to express their positions. While in the early months of the full-scale invasion plenary sessions took place under conditions of maximum secrecy, journalists have now returned to Parliament, and political statements have become an integral part of the Rada’s work — although live broadcasts of sessions have yet to resume.
Lastly, there is the issue of security. In 2022, sessions of the Verkhovna Rada took place under conditions of high threat, so limiting the duration of discussions was a necessary safety measure. Now, with no Russian troops advancing on Kyiv, MPs feel more confident and can afford to engage in longer deliberations.
Legislative Spam and the “Restoration of Ukraine” Group
The situation with legislative spam in the Ukrainian Parliament is rather ambiguous. Overall, there have been some positive trends over the past year. The number of registered draft laws is gradually decreasing. More and more initiatives are the result of collective work rather than individual efforts by MPs. And this is a positive development, as we have repeatedly emphasised: a large number of registered draft laws is not a sign of an MP’s effectiveness. Quite the opposite — it places a huge burden on Parliament without delivering real results. A vivid example is the parliamentary group “Restoration of Ukraine”.
This group of MPs continues to demonstrate disproportionate activity. During the twelfth session, they registered 20% of all draft laws (by comparison, the larger “Dovira” group registered just 0.7%). On average, each MP from the “Restoration of Ukraine” group registered nearly five draft laws — five and a half times more than members of any other faction or group.
And what is the outcome? Despite this extraordinary “productivity” in registering draft laws, not a single one was adopted during the twelfth session. This reflects not quality law-making but rather attempts by individual MPs to create the illusion of active work without enjoying real support in Parliament.
Such initiatives clog the agenda, creating chaos in the legislative process. At the same time, other factions are moving toward submitting coordinated proposals that have a better chance of being adopted. The problem of legislative spam not only overloads parliamentary committees but also diverts attention and resources to low-potential initiatives.
Violation of Constitutional Procedure: The President and His Legislative Deadlock
During the twelfth session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the share of violations of constitutional deadlines for signing laws stopped growing, a trend that had been ongoing since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. In the last session, 44% of draft laws were affected by such violations. In other words, nearly every second law adopted during this period was either signed by the President after the 15-day deadline or not signed (or vetoed) at all. This is not merely a statistic — it is a reflection of how one loophole in the legislation can paralyse the entire legislative process of the country. The Constitution stipulates that, after a law is adopted by the Verkhovna Rada, the President has two weeks to either sign it or return it with proposals. If the President does neither, the law is considered approved. However, in practice, such a law cannot enter into force.
The Legislative Vacuum That Never Disappears
This situation is not new — it has been causing serious problems for quite some time. Previous Presidents of Ukraine also frequently ignored the constitutional deadlines for signing laws. Today, some laws do not receive the President’s signature at all, which means they remain effectively suspended in a legislative vacuum, with no possibility of implementation.
The use of this “silent veto” applies to both the controversial draft law No. 5655 of 11 June 2021 and draft law No. 11090 of 18 March 2024 on increasing excise duties. The latter was signed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a delay of three and a half months. As a result, according to MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak, the state budget lost out on UAH 2,116.8 million (over UAH 2 billion) in revenue as of 1 January.
A Deadlock With No Way Out
What can be done in such a situation? Practically nothing. The Constitution does not provide a mechanism to compel the President of Ukraine to sign a law. Unlike the veto override procedure — where Parliament can re-adopt a draft law by a two-thirds majority — if the President neither signs nor returns a draft law with proposals, the document simply remains in limbo. This is the essence of the “silent veto” — a tool that effectively allows the President to ignore decisions adopted by the Verkhovna Rada.
The President’s failure to act on such laws not only delays important decisions but also undermines the very principles of legislative activity. Systematic violations of the law and the exploitation of legal loopholes raise concerns about the disproportionate powers of the Head of State.
The only way to resolve this issue is by amending the Constitution to clearly define what should happen if the President fails to sign a draft law within the established timeframe. However, constitutional amendments are not permitted under martial law, meaning this problem will remain on the agenda for an indefinite period.
