The government bill received more than 4 thousand amendments. What awaits us at the exit?
The government bill on mobilization (10449) will be submitted to the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada, probably at the end of March or in April. The bill is very sensitive for society, and many politicians are trying to play on the sentiments of voters.
This is one of the reasons why more than 4 thousand amendments were submitted to the project after the first reading. But the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, found a way to ensure that thousands of edits did not block the progress of the project. On March 12, deputies already began considering them.
Let us remind you that the bill passed its first reading in early February. Not a single EU member or Batkivshchyna party voted for the government document at that time. Now representatives of various political forces are explaining under what conditions they will be ready to support the legislative initiative during the final vote.
Is the effect overrated?
The deputies who are working on the bill now come to the conclusion: it will not help to quickly increase the pace of mobilization, but it should be aimed at increasing the percentage of those who will register. Therefore, if we talk about increasing the number of mobilized people, this bill will work at most in the medium term. This is noted by members of the National Security Committee.
What will happen to persons with disabilities, will they leave “care for father-in-law and mother-in-law,” will summonses in the electronic office become mandatory – the public initiative “Igla” found out positions on these and other issues from representatives of different factions and parliamentary groups.
Dilemma: a blow to rights or national security – a priority?
On March 12, the National Security Committee began considering amendments to the government bill. Committee member Irina Friz (“European Solidarity”) notes: if the consideration of the amendments continues at the same pace, then the matter can be completed by the end of the week.
One of the members of the committee on national security issues, on the basis of anonymity, explains: “Now the biggest problem of the Ministry of Defense and the TCC is that two thirds of citizens who can be mobilized are not registered and count them, where they are, whether they have the right to armor or deferment lack of information is impossible. We cannot force them to come to the TCC, update their data and register. We're talking about millions of people. Therefore, this project is about registration first and foremost, and how to motivate people to become registered. There are very few additional options on how to strengthen mobilization in this law. Some things will actually start working at the end of the year or early next year. Therefore, there is no point in expecting people’s deputies to vote and the number of those mobilized to increase. Firstly, this is not a task, and secondly, there are no mechanisms in this legislative initiative.”
And here it is worth recalling that parliament long ago voted for another government project (9281), which lowered the age limit for mobilization to 25 years. But since June last year, Vladimir Zelensky has not signed it.
And in this already passed bill there is nothing about disabled people, caregivers or blocking driver's licenses. Accordingly, the president, if it is necessary to attract additional citizens for mobilization, has a simple and accessible option - to sign this bill and lower the age limit for mobilization.
Regarding the new bill and the mobilization of persons with disabilities, the committee is inclined to believe that all three groups will have a reprieve. But there may be a nuance here: those who received the third disability group after February 24, 2022 will have to undergo a re-examination.
Any disability group gives the right to both deferment and exemption. A disabled person can serve at his own request (the law allows this), but if he changes his mind, he can resign at any time and not undergo the military and military qualifications.
As for the “care for relatives” option, the possibility of deferment due to “care for mother-in-law or father-in-law” may disappear if there are other close relatives. It must be admitted that some citizens use this opportunity as a loophole in order to protect sons-in-law with living daughters and sons from mobilization
The committee, by a margin of one vote, also decided on March 12 that there would be no freezing of bank accounts, cards or revocation of driver's licenses. After this, the chairman of the committee closed the meeting.
Regarding the timing of transfer to the reserve (demobilization), whether it will be after 36 months, or some other, shorter period will be provided for this, there is no decision yet. Discussions are ongoing.
The sensational introduction of electronic subpoenas is also unlikely to be implemented. The only rule that may remain in the law is the provision of sending a notification about the sending of a paper summons to the electronic office. But such a notification does not lead to any legal consequences. Under such conditions, you will not become a “draft dodger.” There are no guarantees that this electronic account will be launched by the time the law comes into force. Accordingly, mention of it has been removed from the final provisions for the time being.
Another problem that the bill should solve is the registration of those liable for military service abroad. Consular offices have specialists who must keep this record, but Ukrainians who have traveled abroad do not apply to register. And here the question arises for legislators: how to motivate men to do this. Now the state doesn’t even understand where anyone is, in what country, and the military must understand whether they can count on these people.
How do deputies work with edits?
In total, almost 4,200 amendments were submitted to the government project. Some media outlets are spreading information that this is a record number of edits. This is wrong. To understand, the bill on the land market had almost the same number of amendments, the “anti-Akhmetov” law had more than 11 thousand amendments, and the “anti-Kolomoisky” law had about 16 thousand amendments.
All edits were divided into 16 thematic blocks. Chairman Alexander Zavitnevich (“Servant of the People”) reported this.
If the committee comes to an agreement in a thematic block on how the issue will be resolved, for example, with disabled people and caretakers or with disabled people of the third group, then a general vector is formed, and here you don’t have to vote in the committee for each individual edit, which saves time. There may be several hundred identical edits, and if each one was voted on separately, it would take several weeks.
Next, the committee must create a table indicating which amendments are taken into account in full, which are partially taken into account, and which are rejected. Then each faction and parliamentary group will receive this table.
On the last day for submitting amendments, February 21, the leader of Batkivshchyna, Yulia Tymoshenko, noted that her political force has a number of demands: there are novelties that her deputies will support, and there are those with which they will definitely not agree.
Representatives of “Batkivshchyna” advocate immediate demobilization of conscripts and general demobilization after 18 months of service, and are against reducing the conscription age from 27 to 25 years, although, as mentioned above, parliament has already voted for this.
The Poroshenko faction also sets conditions.
“It is important for our faction that Headquarters is not given the authority to make a decision on demobilization. This should be a simple mechanism that everyone can understand. And everyone should understand that 18 months of service, when we actually talk about combat positions, is like two days. As for caring for relatives, our position is this: everything should remain as it is. If a father-in-law or mother-in-law has chosen a military serviceman as their guardian, he should have such an opportunity. As for blocking cards, we consider this unacceptable. The proposal to deprive us of driver's licenses also raises questions for us. On March 12, the committee began considering amendments. And the position of our faction will depend on what amendments are taken into account,” explains MP Irina Friz (“European Solidarity”), a member of the committee on national security issues.
The “Trust” group notes that local authorities cannot be assigned functions that are unusual for them, in particular issues related to mobilization. The head of the group, People’s Deputy Oleg Kulinich, emphasizes this: “Our position regarding the timing of demobilization is as follows: there should be 36 months from the date of conscription for those people who are already serving. All other proposals are populism, because we understand that a full-scale war has been going on for two years. The rotation period for a brigade from “zero” to the rear should be a year. No electronic subpoenas or blocking of card accounts. Everything related to persons with disabilities and caregivers should remain within the limits as they are now.”
In addition, deputies from “Dovira” propose to introduce the creation of training centers for military personnel at active battalions. Such small centers for 40-50 people will have the necessary infrastructure and staff of instructors to complete quality training for up to six months. According to the group’s idea, during six months of training at the battalions it is impossible to call up a person; he has a kind of “reservation”. And then he enters into a fixed-term contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and receives allowances in the amount of an annual salary.
“This will change the system of mobilization from coercion to voluntariness,” Oleg Kulinich is convinced.
Non-factional deputies also have proposals. People's Deputy Viktor Baloga noted in February that there are tens of thousands of people in the country who have received benefits from the country for years and retired at a young age: “I mean military and law enforcement officers who, at the age of 40-45, went on a “well-deserved rest” and received various benefits because they worked “hard” for the state. And today, only a small part of these more than 200 thousand people defend their Motherland, and the authorities have no questions about the rest. At the same time, we are primarily mobilizing those who have been civilians all their lives, those who need to be taught basic things, in particular, the basics of handling weapons. Builders, tractor drivers, loaders, mechanics, IT specialists, plumbers and electricians are mobilized first and foremost and protect the country, while ex-law enforcement officers and retired military personnel, often with a painted disability, are of no interest to anyone. Is there a problem finding them? I’m sure not – if only there was desire and political will.”
If the deputies do not delay the consideration of amendments, the Verkhovna Rada may consider the bill at the end of March or beginning of April.
