Olena Prokopenko, Christina Parandii: Will Ukraine’s parliament accomplish anything this fall?

(FILES) Members of the Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovna Rada, attend a session in Kyiv, on Sept. 4, 2017.

Photo by Oleg Petrasiuk

On Sept. 5, a new political season began in Ukraine. Parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy has already branded parliament’s new plenary session “the autumn of reforms” by promising to deliver results on some of the most hot-button issues, including healthcare, pension, education, and judicial reforms. Parliament is behind and needs to kick things into high gear; last session it failed to address a number of important issues, so civil society has a long priority list for the Rada.