The pro-presidential Servant of the People party, which received a total of 254 seats in the 424-member parliament during the recent parliamentary elections, will chair 19 out of 23 parliament committees, the parliament’s preparatory committee decided on Aug. 27.
Although the work of the committees is less conspicuous than the events in the parliament’s session hall, they play a crucial role. The committees form the parliament’s agenda by vetting the bills and amendments before they go for a vote.
Four out of 23 committees will be headed by members of the opposition parties. Among them is the freedom of speech committee, which will be chaired by Nestor Shufrych, a member of the Opposition Platform – For Life party.
Media organizations quickly condemned the decision to give the committee to a pro-Russian party and make Shufrych its chair.
A veteran politician notorious for his discourteous behavior and proneness to physical fights, Shufrych was a member of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions and of its successor, the Opposition Bloc, before joining the even more heavily pro-Russian Opposition Platform. The party is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a friend and supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It came second in the July 21 parliamentary election, receiving 48 seats.
While the freedom of speech committee has been stripped of its role in overseeing speech in advertising and how parliament is covered in the media, it will maintain the right to oversee and draw legislation concerning the protection of the freedom of speech in media, protecting the rights of journalists and media, as well as protecting the right of people to receive information.
The European Solidarity party led by former President Petro Poroshenko initially came in fourth in the election, but is expected to become the third largest faction in parliament with 29 members after lawmakers who ran independently joined the party.
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, elected on the European Solidarity party ticket, will head the parliament’s European integration committee. She has served as the vice prime minister on European integration since 2016.
Independent lawmaker Dmytro Lubinets will head the committee on the de-occupation and reintegration of the occupied territories. Andriy Kozhemiakin, from the 28-member Batkivshchyna faction, will head the parliament’s sports and youth committee.
Lubinets was a member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc in the parliament’s previous convocation. He was one of the 59 lawmakers who signed a petition asking the constitutional court to strike down the law on illicit enrichment. On Feb. 26, the constitutional court deemed the law unconstitutional.
Kozhemiakin has been a lawmaker on the Batkivshchyna party ticket since 2006, previously serving in the military.
All other committees will be chaired by members of Servant of the People. Among them is energy expert Andriy Gerus, who will head the energy committee. Well-known anti-corruption expert Anastasia Krasnosilska will head the anti-corruption committee. Oleksandr Tkachenko, head of the 1+1 Media Group, owned by oligarch Ihor Kolomoysky, will lead the committee on information.
Other committees chaired by the pro-presidential party focus on agrarian policy, budgeting, ecology, economy, healthcare, foreign policy, financial policy, education and science, innovation, law, internal affairs, infrastructure and transportation, regional policy, defense, social justice, and ethics.
