You're reading: Poroshenko vetoes law amending subsidy calculation for pensioners, disabled

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has vetoed draft law No. 2676 on amending the law on utilities services in part of calculation of subsidies to pensioners and disabled people, Social Policy Minister Pavlo Rozenko has said.

“The Ukrainian president protected rights of pensioners and disabled people to receive subsidies and vetoed draft law No. 2676,” he wrote on his Twitter page on July 24.

As reported, the Ukrainian parliament on June 19 passed draft law No. 2676 on amendments to the law on utility and housing services regarding the accrual of subsidies to pensioners and the disabled with 229 votes in favor.

One of the co-authors of the law, Leader of the Radical Party Oleh Lyashko, said that the core of the bill is the automated accrual of utilities service subsidies to pensioners and the disabled.

“The Pension Fund and the Social Fund have all the data on pensioners and persons with disabilities. They do not have to fill in papers. Take information from the social department and give subsidies to persons,” he said.

He said that the automated procedure would apply to 14 million Ukrainian citizens.

Co-author of the bill Olena Babak, lawmaker of the Samopomich party, said the bill proposed allowing single pensioners and disabled individuals to have their personal cases discussed by social protection services and information will be received automatically from the Pension Fund.

She said this concerns single non-working pensioners.

Rozenko believes that lawmakers, instead of relaxing the procedure for calculating subsidies for pensioners and disabled persons, in fact deprived them of this possibility by passing the law. He was concerned at the fact that the lawmakers made the decision to present income certificates to receive subsidies, while the government revoked this.