In February-March 2023, the RPR Coalition, the Center of Policy and Legal Reform, and the Active Community Club held discussions on the concepts of the state’s future development in the context of crucial reforms. Among them was parliamentary reform since the parliament is one of Ukraine’s key institutions of state power. However, its proper functioning requires comprehensive parliamentary reform to ensure institutional strengthening of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. We would like want to share some findings of the experts and the results of expert and public discussions regarding the future of Parliamentary Reform.
Parliament is the only body of legislative power and the only public representative body in Ukraine. However, there are plenty of issues in its functioning that should be resolved:
- The weakness of theParliament in formation of the Government and parliamentary control (practically, the President controls these processes);
- Weak role of the Government in the legislative process and improper interaction between the Parliament and the Government within the scope of the legislative function;
- Quality and number of draft laws. A massive amount of draft laws are not distinguished by their quality and expediency; that explains the low percentage of their adoption. It also leads to the so-called “legislative spam,” which significantly slows down the process of passing the law;
- Inconsistency of some provisions of the Regulations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with the Constitution of Ukraine and international standards;
- The role and functioning of the parliamentary committees. Due to a large number of draft laws and the limited time for their processing, we can observe the ineffective work of parliamentary committees;
- Lack of proper status and rights of the parliamentary opposition;
- An imperfect mechanism of parliamentary control, particularly regarding the executive branch of Government;
- Weak connection between MPs and voters;
- Lack of expert capacity in the Parliamentary Apparatus, in particular, due to the war. Absence of the parliamentary personnel service;
- Low level of citizens’ trust in the Parliament, in particular, due to cases of unethical behavior of MPs.
Parliamentary reform will help correct these flaws. How? Find out in the infographic:
This document is prepared by the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition and the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the framework of the project ” Ukraine Responsive and Accountable Politics Program” (U-RAP), which is implemented by the National Democratic Institute. The opinions expressed in this document belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID.
