Rada sets controversial agenda for final week

The leaders of the Verkhovna Rada agreed on an ambitious agenda for the remainder of parliament’s final week before summer recess, Kommersant reported yesterday. In the coming days, MPs plan to consider hotbutton bills on the status of regional languages and procedures for peaceful assembly.

Brad  Wells: With the spotlight of Euro-2012 now over, MPs will retake up some lightning rod issues this week, particularly the law on regional languages. Passage of the bill on first reading in early June, sparked fistfights on the parliament floor and protests reportedly 9,000 strong (see our news of June 6). The Party of Regions controls enough votes to strong arm through any legislation this week and should score some points in its power base in predominantly Russian-speaking Eastern Ukraine, but will only further alienate opposition political forces and voters in more nationalist regions in Western and parts of Central Ukraine. We thus expect a difficult week on the political front, which will set the stage for a hard-fought and ugly campaign for parliamentary elections on October 28.