The Rada is adapting Ukrainian legislation to the requirements of the EU and has already registered almost two hundred bills with signs of European integration
“The path ahead will be difficult, but full of opportunities”—with these words, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the official start of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine.
Ukraine has already covered a significant distance on the path to European integration and has fulfilled a number of requirements. And some of the important European integration decisions came into force during the full-scale invasion.
In particular, in this convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, 177 bills with signs of European integration have already been registered, 58 of them have already become laws. All of them were finally adopted by parliament and came into force only after a full-scale invasion.
Most European integration bills were registered by people's deputies, but in percentage terms, the initiatives of the president and the government more often become effective acts.
The “Honestly” movement analyzed European integration bills submitted to the Ukrainian Parliament from the beginning of this convocation until now to demonstrate how the Rada adapts Ukrainian legislation to the requirements of the EU.
European integration in the context of a major war
A few days after the full-scale invasion, Ukraine applied to join the European Union. Then President Volodymyr Zelensky, together with Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk and Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, signed a joint statement.
“Ukraine, having paid such a huge price for the European choice and the security of Europe, will be able to follow this path,” the statement said.
Already on March 1, 2022, the European Union accepted it, Ukraine received candidate status and a political decision to begin accession negotiations, and two years later, on June 25, they officially began.
In July 2022, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk said that European integration bills are a priority and will be given especially close attention. After the adoption of a separate resolution on this matter (No. 7595), European integration bills are considered in parliament according to a separate procedure and are marked with a special mark.
The Speaker of the Parliament explained that the committees will submit tables of compliance with the international legal obligations of the EU in the bills for the first reading, and additional expertise for the second reading. In addition, each committee will have a subcommittee that will deal specifically with European integration. At the same time, the committee on regulations must regulate the specifics of introducing European integration bills and the priority of their consideration. In general, all these steps were aimed at ensuring that European integration bills were not “delayed” in committees and were consistent with the international obligations of the EU.
However, in a commentary of the “Honestly” Movement, the Chairman of the Committee on Ukraine’s Integration into the EU, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, noted that in parliament there is a problem of “full-fledged political will” and the planned procedure has not yet been enshrined in the regulations of the Verkhovna Rada, therefore European integration bills are considered in accordance with the resolution.
Parliament homework
Since the beginning of the work of the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation, 177 initiatives designated as European integration have been registered in parliament, but only 58 of them have become valid acts (33%). Moreover, they all became laws only after the full-scale invasion. Prior to this, these initiatives were not finally voted on for various reasons.
It should be noted that most of the European integration bills were submitted by people's deputies, followed by initiatives of the Cabinet of Ministers and the President. However, in percentage terms, the initiatives of the president (39%) and the government (34%) more often become effective acts.
In dynamics, we see that the peak of submission of European integration bills was in 2021, and the final vote and their signing took place in 2023.
The secretariat of the Committee on the Integration of Ukraine into the EU of the “Honestly” Movement said that in this convocation of parliament, a little more were submitted as a whole - 192, of which 74 became effective, however, not all of them had the appropriate mark, and with some initiatives this The marking was removed due to certain inconsistencies.
“The bills that were adopted since 2019, aimed at implementing the Association Agreement with the EU, did not have the appropriate markings, so we cannot say how many there were before 2022. In addition, the Committee on European Integration, after consideration, removed the mark from some of the bills that were determined by such a government. In general, at first there was no specific procedure for who could do this. Now there are two institutional possibilities to provide or remove the mark of European integration of the bill - this is the government and the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration of Ukraine Olga Stefanishyna or our committee,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.
Among the adopted laws, the largest number of bills are from the Committee on Legal Policy and Finance, as well as from the Ecology, Agrarian, Law Enforcement and Energy Committees.
The Chairman of the Committee on the Integration of Ukraine into the EU also said that 29 European integration bills are currently being prepared for the second reading in parliament, 16 for the first reading, and 36 are under initial consideration by the committee.
Among the key adopted European integration bills, obviously, are those that related to the implementation of seven blocks of reforms that accompanied the decision on Ukraine’s candidacy to the EU (reform of the Constitutional Court, continuation of judicial reform, anti-corruption, including the appointment of the head of the SAPO, fight against money laundering, implementation of the anti-oligarchic law, coordination audiovisual legislation with European legislation, changes in legislation on national minorities).
In particular, these are bills that concerned not only the economic plane, but rather the sphere of the rule of law, rights and freedoms - the return of the requirement for e-declaration of public servants, respectable lobbying, the law on media, on a new procedure for the competitive selection of candidates for the position of judge, strengthening of powers Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, etc.
In the future, according to the chairman of the Committee on European Integration, the efforts of the Ukrainian parliament should be aimed primarily at supporting the plan for the Ukraine Facility, which will become the basis for the implementation of the EU financial support program for Ukraine during 2024-2027. In addition, there are a number of requirements from international partners and financial organizations to provide Ukraine with the following tranches of macro-financial assistance.
European integration is an incentive for the Verkhovna Rada
Ukraine's implementation of European integration obligations has had a positive impact on the work of the Ukrainian parliament, in particular the consolidation around the adoption of relevant bills.
In addition, according to the people’s deputies themselves, there has been an increased awareness of responsibility for the fact that Ukraine cannot fail its international legal obligations, which directly affect the country’s ability to resist the aggressor.
Support for European integration bills during voting in the session hall is reflected in the voting data among all factions and groups; they have an average of 62% of votes in favor.
At the same time, it is worth noting that the greater level of support among parliamentary groups that formed after the dissolution of the banned pro-Russian party OPZZH does not mean that they have changed the Customs Union flag, which they previously actively supported, and now wholeheartedly support Ukraine's integration into the EU. Their support for this block of bills goes in the general direction of changing voting behavior after a full-scale invasion, and current decisions in the Rada do not pass without the systemic support of deputy groups from the former OPZZH.
The “Chestno” movement previously wrote that since the beginning of the work of the Verkhovna Rada of the 9th convocation, these deputies participated least in voting and were absent the most. However, after the full-scale aggression of Russia, they began to vote in favor, the number of votes against sharply declined and reached a minimum, and at the same time the percentage of “absent” deputies during voting increased significantly.
But the position of “abstain” among deputies of other opposition factions and groups when considering European integration initiatives is mainly associated with constructive criticism and reservations.
The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, notes that not all bills marked with European integration automatically mean that this is a quality initiative.
“When there is an EU flag next to a bill, it does not mean that it is ideal. This means that the subject matter of this bill directly concerns our international legal obligations. We see a bunch of cases where the texts of such initiatives are far from perfect, even when the bill was introduced by the Cabinet of Ministers,” notes Klympush-Tsintsadze.
People's deputies emphasize that, compared to parliament, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has many times greater ability to prepare bills and check them for compliance with directives or regulations of the European Union.
At the same time, the parliament positively assesses the fact that the Verkhovna Rada Committee on European Integration was given the opportunity to examine bills for the second reading before they appear in the hall.
