Declaration of Intent
Declaration of Intent
Trust in political institutions is a key element of their legitimacy. It is particularly true for the parliament as a representative body. State of trust in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has been at its lowest in the last few years. To a large extent, this is due to public perceptions about the dubious ethical principles of the people’s deputies. The high-profile corruption cases and numerous violations of not only the Rules of Procedures by many MPs but also the order in the session hall once again prove that. It can be noted that attempts to embark on the path of achieving transparency, accountability and professional standards of legislative procedures runs into resistance of politicians for whom the conflict of interest, unacceptable behavior in the voting chamber, gender discrimination, sexism signs, false accusations, lack of dialogue etc. turn up to be a norm. In the same time, in countries of consolidated democracy, the high professional and ethical standards of parliamentarians in fulfilling their mandates serve as a background for building citizen’s trust and support. Thus, there is an increasing need for the development and recording of provisions, which relate to professional ethics in the parliament and the proper fulfillment of parliamentary powers.
Thereby, we who have signed below:
1. Understanding the importance of honest representation of society’s interests in the parliament and of principles of tolerance, trust, pluralism of opinions and mutual respect, we recognize the necessity to regulate issues of parliamentary ethics.
2. In accordance with the recommendations by the Verkhovna Rada Needs Assessment Mission of the European Parliament and the Brussels Declaration of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE we believe it is necessary to draft and enact the Code of Conduct in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This should be done with consideration of the principle of inclusion and according to the best international practices.
3. We agree that in order to be effective the proposed initiative calls for a constantly active dialogue platform to work out the provisions of the Code. Such a platform should be non-partisan and take into account points of view of all interested parties. The process of negotiations can be facilitated by external expert support of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives with the support of the Matra Programme (Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and in partnership with OSCE ODIHR and the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy and with assistance from the USAID Program “RADA: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly” without influencing the decisions.
4. In our activities as MPs we guarantee enforcement of principles of transparency, accountability, avoidance of conflict of interests, tolerance and respect for human rights.
5. We declare our support to the dialogue on issues of parliamentary ethics.
The activities are held within the project of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives “Promoting Democratic Political Culture in Verkhovna Rada through Political Dialogue and Ethical Standards”, carried out with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine in partnership with the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) “Strengthening Dialogue among Civil Society and with Key Governmental Stakeholders in Ukraine in Human Dimension” and with the assistance of the USAID RADA Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly, implemented by East Europe Foundation.
Press-briefing on Signing the Declaration of Intent
#EthicalRada
On February, 9, a press-briefing “Signing the Declaration of Intent on the Code of Conduct” took place in the Verkhovna Rada. MPs Olena Sotnyk (Samopomich), Svitlana Zalishchuk (Petro Poroshenko Bloc), Sergiy Leshchenko (Petro Poroshenko Bloc), Oksana Yurynets (Petro Poroshenko Bloc), Yuriy Miroshnichenko (Opposition Bloc), Alyona Shkrum (Batkivshchyna), Ostap Yednak (non-aligned) and other MPs joined the briefing.
During the briefing MPs declared their intentions to work in the framework of the dialogue platform created to discuss ethical dilemmas and provide an inclusive environment to work on the Code of Conduct “owned” by MPs.
“Holding this position, we as MPs have to realize the significance and responsibility of each of our action, word and decision. Ethical conduct is not only about being polite and respectful; it is also about legitimacy and importance of the parliament and parliamentarians for the society”
“We believe that these ethical standards must be adopted in one way or another. Why? Firstly, because of the fact that our parliamentary committees are often headed by people who represent business (“Ukrzaliznytsia” – i.e. in the transport committee). This is unacceptable. The Ethical Code can solve it. Secondly, when MPs actually register their laws, in spite of the fact that the alternative one already exists for a year or two… This is such a selective legislation. Why? Because there is a solidarity. Then, some laws are given a green light, and some laws are shown a red flag. The Code of Conduct can solve it. And the last. I believe that the parliament simply has to show that ordinary people work here, the same people of whom the society consists, that has chosen us. Otherwise, I suspend that this parliament, just like the previous one, will simply be withdrawn”
“Most of the MPs are now talking about European integration and are shouting about European values. But European integration is not only laws, economic norms and some papers. It is, above all, the code of conduct, dignity, kindness, mutual understanding, and mutual respect. These are the rules of freedom”
“It’s for a reason that now we are not talking about the law-making process, which regulates the life of society, but we are talking about an equally important issue of ethics, those rules of behavior that people should accept voluntarily, as no laws, including the Law “On the Rules of Procedures”, can not restrain mutual hostility, mutual offenses, and sometimes even frantic fights”
“If we, the MPs, will not be able to behave with dignity, to eliminate the conflict of interest in our actions, to treat as a matter of principle the rules of procedures violations and other laws, we cannot rely on the help and support of the society and the world to the Parliament and to Ukraine”
Declaration of Intent has fixated the necessity to regulate issues of parliamentary ethics and the initiative of MPs to actively participate in working out the ethical norms. MPs who participated in the briefing signed the Declaration and encouraged their colleagues to join.
The activity takes place in the framework of the Agency for Legislative Initiative Project “Promoting Democratic Political Culture in Verkhovna Rada through Political Dialog and Ethical Standards”, which is being implemented with support from the MATRA Program (Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and in partnership with the ODIHR OSCE Project “Strengthening Dialogue among Civil Society and with Key Governmental Stakeholders in Ukraine in Human Dimension”, the Dutch Institute for Multiparty Democracy, and with the assistance of the USAID Program “RADA: Accountability, Responsibility, Democratic Parliamentary Representation”.
Press Conference “Presentation of materials developed for the Parliamentary Code of Conduct”
#EthicalRada
On February 3, the press conference “Presentation of Materials Developed for the Parliamentary Code of Conduct” was held and was attended by Svitlana Matviienko, Chairwoman of Board of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Igor Kogut, Director of USAID “RADA” Program, Kateryna Ryabiko, Project Coordinator of OSCE / ODIHR Project “Strengthening Dialogue among Civil Society and with Key Governmental Stakeholders in Ukraine in Human Dimension”, Ostap Yednak, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine, and Serhiy Leshchenko, Member of the Parliament of Ukraine.
At the press conference, the first developments were presented based on operation of the dialog platform, which was established to discuss ethical dilemmas and ensure an inclusive process of developing the Parliamentary Code of Conduct, the “owners” of which are Members of the Parliament themselves. During the press conference, the MPs also presented a declaration of intent on development of the Parliamentary Code of Conduct.
Svitlana Matviienko noticed:
“Trust in political institutions is a key element of their legitimacy. This is especially true about the Parliament as a representative body. The confidence in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in recent years is unprecedentedly low. To a large extent this is due to public perceptions of questionable ethical principles of the people’s representatives”
Igor Kogut emphasized that the process of dialogs on the parliamentary ethics should focus on consideration of ethical dilemmas, which will result in common, clear, and acceptable to all parliamentary standards of professional ethics. MPs themselves should agree on parliamentary ethics principles, within which they will be able to fulfill their mandate and be accountable to voters.
“Many people when referring to parliamentary ethics limit that to regulation of behavior in the session hall. This issue is certainly important for the image of the Parliament as a whole, but the definition and regulation of parliamentary ethics include a much wider range of issues, including conflict of interest and hidden lobbing, as well as transparency of parliamentary privileges and benefits, asset declaration, etc”
MP Ostap Yednak, who participated in all workshops in the framework of the project, noted that the key to this process is the dialog:
“Parliamentary ethics is the MP’s political responsibility. We have to learn the culture of the political dialog in order to have trust and support from citizens. The level of culture and ethics in the Parliament are determined by the level of the institution’s respect for each other. I think that a law will not solve the problem, and therefore it should be an in-house parliamentary manifesto”
When presenting the declaration of intent on development of the Parliamentary Code of Conduct, MP Serhiy Leshchenko said:
“In our work as MPs we guarantee compliance with the principles of transparency, accountability, avoiding conflicts of interest, tolerance, and respect for human rights”
Serhiy also urged MPs to join the initiative and sign the declaration of intent to participate in the process of adopting the Parliamentary Code of Conduct.
The activity takes place in the framework of the Agency for Legislative Initiative Project “Promoting Democratic Political Culture in Verkhovna Rada through Political Dialog and Ethical Standards”, which is being implemented with support from the MATRA Program (Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) and in partnership with the ODIHR OSCE Project “Strengthening Dialogue among Civil Society and with Key Governmental Stakeholders in Ukraine in Human Dimension”, the Dutch Institute for Multiparty Democracy, and with the assistance of the USAID Program “RADA: Accountability, Responsibility, Democratic Parliamentary Representation”.
Presentation of the Shadow Report in the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education and Science
An extended meeting of the Committee on Science and Education dedicated to topical education issues took place at 18/2, M. Hrushevsky Str. on December 21, 2016.
The meeting was attended by MPs Oleksandr Spivakovsky, Ivan Kyrylenko, Oleksiy Skrypnyk, Taras Kremin, academics, experts, representatives of NGOs, and members of committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
To implement the supervision functions of the Committee on Science and Education, the following issues were addressed:
• the status of implementation of the Law of Ukraine On Higher Education,
• the status of implementation of the Law of Ukraine On Academic and Scientific Research Activities
• the implementation of the Decision of the Committee on Science and Education of April 12, 2016 On the Activities of the State Enterprise Inforesurs.
ALI experts and authors of the studies, Yevhen Nikolayev, PhD, Assistant Professor of Political Economy at KNEU named after V. Hetman, and Oleksandr Dluhopolskyi, PhD., Professor of Economics at the Ternopil National Economic University, presented the Shadow Report “Reform of Higher Education in Ukraine: Implementation of the Specialized Law in 2014–2016”
The study examines the issues of developing a new quality assurance system for higher education, developing academic and financial autonomy of higher educational institutions, ensuring fair conditions for admission to higher educational institutions, and integrating Ukraine’s higher education into the European educational and scientific environment. The report also contains some suggestions concerning further necessary steps in this area.
Shadow reports are a method whereby NGOs present alternative information to the periodic government reports concerning the implementation of government programs.
Based on the results of the presentation, the committee members initiated a roundtable discussion of the results of the submitted report pre-scheduled for January 2017.
Presentation of the shadow reports to the Committees of Parliament is part of the project implemented by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives with the support of USAID RADA Program: Responsible, Accountable, Democratic Assembly implemented by the East Europe Foundation.
New Draft Laws Appeared on the Public Bills Discussion Portal
The first three draft laws appeared for discussion on the Public Bills Discussion Portal, launched in November, 2016, with the support of USAID RADA Program: Responsible, Accountable, Democratic Assembly, implemented by the East Europe Foundation, at the initiative of Computer Systems Office of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat, namely Draft Law 2295a On Public Hearings and Draft Laws 5144 and 5144-1 On Lobbyism.
We urge all interested parties to contribute to the discussion of the draft laws en bloc or their individual provisions!
The Public Bills Discussion Portal allows citizens to get acquainted with the bills that are to be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and are under consideration by parliamentary committees, as well as participate in their discussion.
The Public Bills Discussion Portal was developed in response to the recommendations of the European Parliament concerning internal reforms of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in order to improve its institutional capacity and encourage wider public involvement in the legislative process.
Analytics: Reforming Parliamentary Procedures
On November 22, 2016, the Committee on Legal Policy and Justice of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine held a roundtable discussion on “Reforming Parliamentary Procedures: Constitutional and Legal Analysis”.
The event was held jointly by the VRU Committee on Legal Policy and Justice, Committee on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure and Support to Work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in cooperation with the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and the USAID RADA Program: Responsible, Accountable, Democratic Assembly.
The roundtable was attended by MPs of Ukraine, public authorities, NGOs, academics and experts.
According to the results of the roundtable, the experts of the Agency prepared a policy brief.
Presentation of the Shadow Report “Experience with Local Referendums in Ukraine as an Element of Local Democracy”
On November 24 the shadow report “Experience with Local Referendums in Ukraine as an Element of Local Democracy” was presented in Chernihiv. The presentation took place within the framework of a working group meeting at the Subcommittee on Elections and Referendums of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Legal Policy and Justice.
The meeting was organized by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives in cooperation with MP Oleksandr Chernenko, co-chair of the Subcommittee on Elections and Referendums, within USAID RADA Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly implemented by the East Europe Foundation.
An opening speech was delivered by Valerii Kulich, Head of Chernihiv Oblast State Administration.
Tetiana Chernukha, project coordinator of the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, presented the results of a study on the practice of initiating and conducting local referendums in Ukraine from 1991 to 2012 (i.e. during the period when law No. 1286-12 On National and Local Referendums dated 1991 was in force).
Another speaker Maksym Latsyba, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research, Director of USAID “Citizens in Action Project”, made a presentation on “Legal Framework for Mechanisms of Local Democracy”.
Shadow reports are a method, new to Ukraine, to communicate information and policy alternatives regarding the implementation of government programs to the public.
Presentation of Shadow Reports in committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is part of the project carried out by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives within the USAID RADA Program: Responsible Accountable Democratic Assembly implemented by the East Europe Foundation.
Медіа-галерея заходу
Training for Employees of Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
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:
“I’m not saying that the work of committees will become easier with these components, but if the public cannot participate in discussing bills, we cannot talk about a law-governed and democratic state”
Oleksii Sydorenko, Head of Computerized Systems Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, said,
“There are 80,000 registered users on the Portal of E-Petitions to the Verkhovna Rada, and more than 50,000 underwent the text-message verification. That is, they confirmed their identity and actively interact with the VRU. This implies that there is a great demand for involvement in lawmaking on the part of the public”
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.
Committee employees were actively involved in the discussion. They proposed to add academic institutions to the register of public organizations in order to bring experts from different backgrounds to discussions. In the future, it is planned to expand possibilities of the portal, e.g. involve certain categories of people in a discussion, first of all experts, and set certain filters.
All participants of the event supported the idea of simplifying communication between voters and MPs.
Presentation of E-Tools for the Public in Chernihiv
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).
Фото: Олександр Коваленко
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.
Фото: Олександр Коваленко
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.
Roundtable: “Reforming Parliamentary Procedures: Constitutional and Legal Analysis”
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.
“At the moment, the prevailing approach is based on the idea that the more laws are adopted and the sooner amendments are introduced (which is not properly enforced), the more effectively Parliament operates. People are trying to solve the problem of the lack of governmental control over the implementation of laws, as well as a failure to apply sanctions for violations, by reviewing adopted legislative acts, creating new supervisory bodies, and increasing punishment for offenses. However, many of these problems can only be resolved by proper enforcement of existing laws”
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:
“At the same time, we have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is a constitutional law which serves as the source of the parliamentary law of Ukraine and specifies relevant procedures to regulate the work of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, its bodies and officials, as well as the practices of fulfilling its functions and different parliamentary procedures. Therefore, the Committee on Rules believes that the reform of parliamentary procedures should begin with bringing the provisions of the Rules in compliance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine. At the same time, although it is necessary to introduce certain measures specified in the above recommendations, some of them can be implemented only by amending the Constitution of Ukraine”
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,
“Each of the items discussed has merit, but one needs to proceed from the realities of the VRU of this convocation. Bizarre bills have unfortunately become rather common nowadays. I’m not sure that the tie-in of the number of signatures to the size of the smallest faction (now 19 deputies) will be acceptable for subsequent convocations. Maybe there will be 40-50 deputies in the factions, and it will be extremely difficult to collect signatures. Probably, it is a good idea to take a certain constant value, which will not be discriminatory. In addition, I would not rush to impose the 20 bills limit per session – there will be laws from the President and the Government anyway. This rate is suitable for more stable societies”
During the roundtable, representatives of state authorities, experts, and academics discussed the quality of bills registered by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and expressed their vision of how to improve the legislative process in Ukraine. The roundtable also raised the question of expert opinions on draft laws, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of conducting examination of bills.
