Parliament won’t review Constitutional Court legislation this week

Ukraine’s parliament
won’t review this week any of the legislation submitted to renew Ukraine’s
anti-corruption infrastructure following the scandalous Oct. 27 ruling of the
Constitutional Court, the pravda.com.ua news site reported on Nov. 16, citing
anonymous sources in several factions. It also cited the daily agenda published
that day after the agenda meeting, which makes no mention of anti-corruption
bills. That includes neither the president’s bill to dismiss the Constitutional
Court, nor the bill submitted by the speaker to renew the norms of illegal
enrichment.

The pro-presidential
faction, The People’s Servant, lacks the necessary number of votes, while the
President’s Office “is doing everything so that (Dmytro) Razumkov’s bill is not
voted upon,” the report said. The Nov. 17 parliamentary session will be the
only one this week, with the next one not scheduled until Dec. 1. “So far, it’s
not apparent that the President’s Office is trying to resolve the crisis. And
there are no communications with Razumkov,” said a source close to the speaker.

Later that evening,
Acting Parliamentary Speaker Olena Kondratiuk told a political talk show that
political will is lacking to review legislation “which would apply to returning
to electronic declarations, as well as criminal responsibility for fraudulent
declarations and reconstructing the Constitutional Court as an institution.” A
working group has been created to draft such legislation, she said.

Zenon Zawada: What’s
alarming about this report is that the President’s Office is still reportedly
aiming to dismiss the entire court, despite criticism of such plans from leading
MPs of the European Parliament and the
European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice
Commission), among other institutions. And it is opposing the
attempt by the speaker to resolve the crisis by rebuilding the anti-corruption
infrastructure by legislation, which we see as the only reasonable means of
solving this problem. It’s also alarming to see this process stalled, despite
the urgings
of European authorities to
resolve it as soon as possible. t’s hard to say whether a special session will
be called earlier than Dec. 1. Once that date arrives, Ukraine will likely face
a new round of concern and criticism from European authorities.