The Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada finished the fifth session of the current convocation with the final meeting on Jan. 20.
The Rada went on a break till Feb. 7, when the new six-month session starts.
The parliamentarians passed 106 laws since the session started in September, according to the Speaker of Parliament Andriy Parubiy.
In the last week of the session, Ukraine’s lawmakers passed legislation relating to a large-scale NATO training for Ukrainian troops that will take place in 2017, approved the launch of the electronic tickets for public transport and brought the rules for transportation of dangerous goods in Ukraine to the standards of the European Union.
At the same time, the lawmakers failed to vote on two important environmental laws: They rejected the draft law on strategic environmental assessment and postponed the vote on environmental impact assessment.
The week was even more intense outside the session hall.
Rada’s National Security Committee members expelled Ukrainian lawmaker, ex-military pilot and former Russia’s political prisoner Nadiya Savchenko from the committee for having an unauthorized meeting with Russian-backed separatists in Minsk, publishing the lists of the prisoners taken captive during the Russia’s war in the eastern Ukraine, and saying that Ukraine should sacrifice Crimea to end the war in the Donbas.
The Security Committee also asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate whether Savchenko’s actions qualified as treason.
Foreign soldiers allowed in Ukraine – but only for exercise
Three massive foreign military exercises are planned to be held in Ukraine in 2017. More than 5,000 soldiers from the U.S. and European countries will help train Ukrainian soldiers on using new equipment, tanks and helicopters during the “Rapid Trident 2017” and “Sea Breeze 2017” exercises and NATO’s Partnership for Peace program, Deutsche Welle has reported.
A bill to allow the training was brought to the Rada by Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko and approved by 236 votes.
Foreign fighters will be allowed to base in Ukraine for up to 365 days.
The law also allows bringing in 10 foreign warships, five submarines, 10 helicopters and planes and more than 60 military vehicles.
Public transport to go cashless
The Rada made a step towards cashless economy by approving a bill on electronic tickets for public transport.
Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan said that the electronic ticket will bring transparency to Ukraine’s transport system and increase the revenue of the local budget – the money that could be spent on improvement of transport networks.
The law also brings in a system of electronic registration of passengers that will help evaluate the passenger traffic and adjust the fees.
The bill was supported by 265 lawmakers.
Transportation of hazardous goods
The lawmakers voted to bring the Ukrainian rules for the transportation of hazardous goods in accordance with the EU standards. The bill was introduced to the Rada by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman in May 2016 but was only voted into a law eight months later, on Jan. 19.
The new law ensures a proper level of responsibility for transportation of hazardous goods, such as chemicals, weapons, oil and gas by vehicles, railway and water transport.
It brings Ukrainian legislation on the matter in accordance with the standards of the European Environmental Quality Standards Directive through revising the regulations of the functions, obligations, and responsibilities of a person or an enterprise in charge of transportatio and proper training for staff members that transport hazardous cargo.
The bill was supported by 156 lawmakers.
Fails of the week
On Jan. 17 Rada refused to approve the draft law on strategic environmental assessment and postponed the draft on environmental impact assessment. Both bills were already adopted by the parliament in October; however, Poroshenko vetoed them and returned to the Rada with suggestions to change them.
The bill “On Environmental Impact Assessment” was sent for finalization to the committee. The experts with the Reanimation Package of Reforms NGO are afraid it means at least one-year delay in the introduction of the environmental reform in Ukraine.
That would mean that Ukraine failed to fulfill its international commitments under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, according to the official statement of the Reanimation Package of Reforms.
“According to the World Health Organization, five people die in Ukraine every 15 minutes due to poor environmental conditions, while seven people are registered as terminally ill due to the pollution of drinking water, soil, and air,” reads the statement.
Kyiv Post staff writer Isobel Koshiw contributed to this story.
