Some members of parliament were busy during a half-hour coffee break on Oct. 9 – not eating doughnuts, but rather holding unscheduled meetings.
The agrarian
committee, for instance, met quietly to discuss legislation to broaden powers
of the State Land Bank, a financial institution. If passed into law, the
measure would give the Bank unprecedented economic privileges in land issues compared to other land owners and agrarians. The stealth
meeting went virtually unnoticed by journalists because it was unscheduled.
Strictly speaking, no
laws are broken when parliamentary committees meet at strange times outside
designated budget-sponsored offices. The rules of procedure for parliament only
state that the work of deputies should be objective and unbiased.
Yet Ukraine’s
450-seat parliament is often seen as an exclusive club. Deputies live up to the
billing. The work of the committees, most of which remains out of the public
eye, is a clear illustration. Disregard of rules and duties are common. The
media and non-government sector are only starting to pay attention to the
problem.
The agrarian committee
has had even more extravagant meetings.
Five days earlier,
on Oct. 4, it held one in Shabo winery in Odesa Oblast. According to its
schedule, the actual debates were to last about two hours, while the rest
of the day the deputies spent getting a “VIP tour,” complete with wine tasting
and a folk band performance. The deputies were transferred to an Odesa hotel
where the cheapest room costs Hr 1,500 per night.
Journalists and
activists who complain often meet with resistance. For example, the Shabo
committee meeting was closed for some journalists and activists. When activists
of Chesno, a civic movement that tracks the activities of lawmakers, came to
Shabo, they were turned away.
However, reporters
of state-owned Rada TV channel, who tagged along with agrarian committee
deputies, were allowed to roam freely, according to Chesno activist Hanna
Grabarska.
Odesa is a popular
destination when it comes to organizing parliament committee meetings.
On Oct. 3, the finance
and banking committee met in the offices of ImexBank in Odesa because one of its members, Leonid
Klimov, is the bank’s honorary president. The deputies had no explanation why
their work was organized that way.
Svoboda opposition
lawmaker Igor Shvaika, a member of the committee on regulations, admits,
however, that requirements for impartiality are hard to meet when meetings are
held at wineries and in banks. There is no
debate in parliament as of yet about changing the rules. Shvaika says any
change would be extremely unpopular with deputies and likely to meet
resistance.
Another
trick that needs to be addressed is holding hastily scheduled committee
meetings during plenary sessions, while taking time off during the weeks set
aside for committee work. According to the schedule on the Verkhovna Rada
website, 18 committees out of 29 held their meetings on Oct 23. It was the only
day during that plenary week when committees were also allowed to organize
their meetings, according to the parliament’s internal schedule. Three
committees also planned their meetings on Oct. 22, when the calendar mandated a
plenary session only.
By contrast, during the week set aside for committee work, only 10 events
happened and only one of those was a proper committee meeting to discuss draft
laws. Others were more minor events like working group meetings.
There is also a vast
difference in the number of meetings held by various committees. For example,
between December and July, committees for transport and information
technologies had only three announced meetings each. The IT committee has stars in it, such as Svoboda party leader Oleh
Tyahnybok and ex-deputy prime minister Sergiy
Tigipko. Tyahnybok comes from Lviv, where the IT sector is one of the leading
industries and growing fast. Tigipko’s wife, Victoria, has a few businesses in
the IT sector. But the committee so far is not very active.
“Our
committee is new and there are not that many issues related to our industry as,
for example, at the budget committee,” IT committee spokeswoman Dina Turchyna says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Kapliuk can be
reached at [email protected].
