On December 20, 2017, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine held a press briefing devoted to the presentation of policy papers on the topic “Concept of ‘End-to-End’ Legislative Process” and “Proposals Concerning the Policy of Government’s Reporting in Parliament”.
The event was organized by the Agency Legislative Initiatives in co-operation with Dmytro Lubinets, MP of Ukraine, Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure and Support to Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine within the framework of the USAID RADA Program: Responsible, Accountable, Democratic Assembly implemented by the East Europe Foundation.
The papers were presented by:
- Dmytro Lubinets, MP of Ukraine;
- Oleksandr Zaslavskyi, author of the study, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives.
The draft concept paper on the “end-to-end” legislative process contains an analysis of existing practices, an overview of international experience, as well as proposals as to the concept of the “end-to-end” legislative process reform focused on strengthening coordination between legislative initiative actors. This document suggests alternative options of changing the legislative process “end to end”, which can be provisionally called “government-centered” (based on the experience of France), “parliament-centered” (based on the US experience), and “the concept of minimum necessary changes” (based on analysis of existing practices in Ukraine).
The document “Proposals Concerning the Policy of Government’s Reporting in Parliament” focuses on the main issues of communication between Government and Parliament, analyzes international experience, and provides suggestions for improving communication between Government and the Verkhovna Rada.
Dmytro Lubinets, MP of Ukraine:
I am very pleased that now the activities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine have an effect – a very positive one – on public organizations, which help MPs and offer their proposals on how to improve the work of the Verkhovna Rada and activities associated with legislative initiatives
Oleksandr Zaslavskyi, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, presented two analytical documents: “Concept of ‘End-to-End’ Legislative Process” and “Proposals Concerning the Policy of Government’s Reporting in Parliament”, prepared within the framework of the USAID RADA Program: Responsible, Accountable, Democratic Assembly implemented by the East Europe Foundation.
Mr. Zaslavskyi observed that at the end of February 2016, the European Parliament’s needs assessment mission led by Pat Cox presented its Roadmap on Internal Reform and Capacity-Building for the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. On March 17, 2016, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Resolution on Measures to Implement the 52 Recommendations Contained in the Roadmap.
The presented policy papers are developed to clarify and extend the recommendations contained in the Roadmap. The documents analyze the current procedures and practices of decision-making in the Ukrainian parliament, examine the international experience and suggest a certain vision for improvement of these processes. Among the specific problems analyzed in the documents, Mr. Zaslavskyi highlighted the lack of strategic planning in policy-making, as well as the lack of coordination and communication between the legislative and executive branches of government in the legislative process.
The proposals that require special attention include: review of the status of the Government’s Program of Activity (in the event of a Government’s failure to present this document, it should resign); the agenda of sessions should be formed on the basis and in pursuance of the Government’s Program of Activity; any document should be based on the results of monitoring and assessment of already implemented laws or certain policies. Moreover, any legislative initiative should come with a monitoring and assessment plan approved by the Main Committee of the Verkhovna Rada.
