Which questions will be a priority.
People's deputies are already on the next week will return to work in the mode of plenary sessions. What bills will the Rada take up in the coming months and what priorities does it set for 2022?People's deputies from Monday will again gather under the dome after a long winter vacation. In the last days of January, the parliament will complete the work of the sixth session and immediately open a new one, the seventh, in February. For two weeks in a row, the Rada will sit in the plenary session mode.
The «Servant of the People» faction, having a decisive say in the formation of the parliamentary agenda, wants, first of all, to consider those documents that did not have time put to a vote in December. These are, in particular, bills on the introduction of funded pensions and taxes for the gambling business. Plus, for this year, the deputies plan to work on tax reform and SBU reform, as well as amendments to the Constitution and partial legalization of marijuana.
Because most of these issues are either not very popular in society, or have political overtones, their consideration will not do without debate in the Rada. As the elections approach, non-coalition deputies become less and less accommodating to the authorities. And the wars with which Bankova went to influential «players» political and business elites, can further aggravate the situation in the session hall.
Pensions, SBU and cannabis
One of the first bills, which «Servant of the People» intends to put to a vote in the hall — on funded pension provision No. 2683. Its consideration was scheduled for December 16, the penultimate plenary day of the Rada.
RBC-Ukraine has already described in detail the essence of this reform. It assumes that all officially employed people under the age of 55 will receive their personal accounts. There will be credited part of the taxes they paid. And after retirement, Ukrainians will be able to use the accumulated funds. This system will work simultaneously with the solidarity one. That is, the future generation of pensioners will have two sources of income.
Deputy head of the faction «Servant of the people» Yevgenia Kravchuk predicts that the parliament may vote on the basis of the document this winter. «Then the opposition factions, most likely, will try to overwhelm it with amendments. But this second level, according to the plan, should start working from January 1, 2023. Accordingly, the vote should take place as soon as possible», Kravchuk explained.
Another bill that the deputies want to adopt in the near future is on the reform of the SBU (No. 3196-d). The main idea of the document is to distinguish between the counterintelligence and operational-search activities of the special services. Its employees must be re-certified. Part of the powers of the SBU will be transferred to other law enforcement agencies, until 2025 it will lose its function of investigation.
There is an ambiguous situation around this document. On the one hand, part of the expert community is dissatisfied with the text and complains about the expansion of the powers of the special services. For example, it makes it easier for her to block websites and access electronic communications, to «wireappearing» and confidential information of Ukrainians.
On the other hand, the SBU itself, apparently, is not entirely satisfied with the version prepared by the working group. At the same time, partners in the EU, the US and NATO are urging the parliament to adopt the bill in the committee version.
As Yevgenia Kravchuk explained, more than 2,000 amendments to the document have been received. And now an active discussion continues in the Rada about whether it is worth considering this draft under an abbreviated special procedure. Many deputies are categorically against it, because this will limit the number of amendments that can be submitted for confirmation. Therefore, it is possible that the committee will have to finalize the final text, Kravchuk admitted.
In addition, this year Parliament may legalize medical cannabis. In the summer, more than 80 deputies, including representatives of the «Servant of the People», introduced a bill that allows the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. But the Rada sent this document for revision.
In mid-December, the Ministry of Health presented its version of the text, which has a chance to get enough votes «for». In the next month or two, this initiative is expected to be registered in the Rada as a project, Evgenia Kravchuk admitted.
At least 2 million patients with oncology, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease need cannabis-based medicines. But recreational use of cannabis will remain banned, she says.
«The bill from the ministry strengthens the role of the police in control at all stages — cultivation, production, sale and receipt of recipes. The police support this document — law enforcement officers also do not like to catch these poor mothers who are forced to buy on the & # 171; black market & # 187; drops for a sick child», — said the deputy head of the «Servant of the People» faction.
Taxes and an economic passport
Another reform that MPs want to launch this year concerns taxes. The first deputy head of the financial committee, Yaroslav Zheleznyak («Golos»), explained that now the Rada has two concepts of how this reform should look like. One — from representatives of the mono-majority headed by Daniil Getmantsev, the second — proposed by «Golos». Some of their ideas are the same. Like, for example, combining three contributions — military, personal income tax and ERUs — into one payment with a simultaneous decrease.
«This is a reform of taxation of income of individuals and legal entities. But this is definitely not this session, because the bill has not even been introduced yet», — said Daniil Getmantsev (SN), head of the profile committee, to RBC-Ukraine.
The Rada will probably pass to this reform only in the second half of the year. In a more foreseeable future, deputies can take up the regulation of taxes for industrial parks, which is provided for in bills No. 5688 and No. 5689. These documents contain fiscal incentives and «concessions» for the development of such industrial sites in Ukraine.
In addition, the Finance Committee will have to prepare for the first reading of the bill on the economic passport of a Ukrainian (No. 6394), which Volodymyr Zelensky filed in early December. The President proposes to create a fund for future generations. It will be filled with budgetary funds, in particular, at the expense of rent for the use of subsoil. Access to the money accumulated in the fund will be given to children born since 2019.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak considers the bill ill-conceived. According to him, such funds operate in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Norway. But these countries have huge oil reserves and a budget surplus, unlike Ukraine, which is forced to borrow funds year after year.
«The idea is as populist as possible, we do not have the funds for this. Every year we borrow about UAH 200 billion. They plan to set aside 50 billion in this fund. This means that now we will borrow 250 billion. Where can these funds be invested? In government debt. That is, we will pay interest to ourselves or take more money on credit from international partners and still pay interest for this,» Zheleznyak said.
Hetmantsev predicts that the Rada may vote this bill in the first reading as early as early February. Since the launch of the fund is scheduled for January 1, 2023, the document will not be shelved.
«We are introducing it the way it works abroad. There will be votes because this is a popular initiative that is supported by people. But this is not populism at all. It is based on numbers, programs, and it will indeed be long-term. I do not exclude any point changes in this document, but I do not see the need to change something conceptually», the head of the relevant committee explained to the publication.
Tax changes may also affect the gambling market. In the coming weeks, the parliament is going to adopt in the second reading the bill No. 2713-d, which establishes new tax rates for the gambling business. For some activities, the fiscal burden is planned to be reduced. Part of the deputy corps criticizes such a step, suspecting their colleagues of lobbying and creating non-competitive rules.
However, according to Getmantsev, the reduction in taxes will help bring the market out of the «shadow». And after the business starts working «in the white», it is possible to discuss an increase in the fiscal burden, said the head of the profile committee of the Rada.
Another presidential initiative scheduled for 2022 is a package of bills on multiple citizenship. One of them, in fact the basic document (No. 6368), allows one or more passports to be held simultaneously with the passport of Ukraine. These documents have not yet been reviewed by the relevant human rights committee. Many representatives of the monomajority have warnings and comments about this initiative. That is why the deputies find it difficult to answer when exactly it will enter the hall.
Decentralization, deoligarchization and culture
The presidential team this year wants to take on four documents, one way or another related to local self-government. One of them is the new law on the capital No. 2143-3, which is going to be submitted for the second reading. He, among other things, shares the positions of mayor and head of the Kyiv City State Administration.
Opponents of the authorities consider this document an attempt by Bankova to weaken Vitali Klitschko's position as a potential rival in the 2024 presidential race. Like, it was not in vain that for two years this project was remembered only when relations with the capital's mayor turned into a confrontation. Zelensky's associates assure that they just want to restore order in Kiev and discard any political motives.
«There is a lot of manipulation and speculation around the bill on the capital. Someone is trying to designate this as an element of political war. I think we will try to convince all parties of the need to support this document for the sake of the people of Kiev. Now, I think we need to focus on resuming the dialogue with Vitali Klitschko so that there is general support for this bill», Vitaliy Bezgin (SN), a member of the parliamentary committee on state power, told RBC-Ukraine.
Before adopting the law on the capital, the Rada is going to vote on the document on local state administrations (No. 4298). This project prescribes the role and new functions that will be assigned to the heads of the RSA, RSA and KSCA. As part of a future decentralization reform, they will be replaced by prefects. The bill is already ready for voting in the second reading, says Bezgin. The only obstacle is the multitude of amendments, so it can take several days for them to be considered under the dome.
This document will form the basis of changes to the Constitution on decentralization, which is being prepared by the presidential team. At the end of November, a preliminary concept of this reform, written by a group of experts, appeared in the Rada. In the «Servant of the People» plan to «polish» this document before March 1 and register it in Parliament. In order to have time to amend the Basic Law before the end of 2022, deputies must send the finished bill to the Constitutional Court for evaluation and vote for the basis by mid-summer.
So far, representatives of the mono-majority doubt that the Rada will be able to meet these deadlines. In addition, at least 300 votes are needed for the final vote — and this is another task that will have to be solved as it becomes available.
The fourth bill is about a local referendum. Its author, speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, hopes that the parliament will be able to adopt the document in 2022. This is quite realistic, however, there are several «but», said Bezgin.
«The conclusion of the Venice Commission on the bill is expected only at the end of the month. The document has not even been considered by the committee for the first reading. There are many comments from local government associations. Therefore, in my opinion, even before consideration by the committee, it is necessary to conduct a broad discussion of this project with all stakeholders. It concerns the rights of communities, their interests must be taken into account», said the MP.
In parallel, the presidential team plans to adopt additional bills aimed at combating the oligarchs. Some of them have already been registered in the Rada, another part is under development by the Cabinet of Ministers, says Evgenia Kravchuk.
«There are draft laws on strengthening the Antimonopoly Committee — No. 5431, which has already been voted for the basis, and No. 5432. Now the Ministry of Justice and the Anti-Corruption Committee of the Parliament are working on drafting a draft law on lobbying. We must also adopt amendments to the law on political parties to limit the possibility of their financing by oligarchs, and a change in anti-corruption legislation», the deputy explained.
And another block of initiatives that the Rada is going to adopt in 2022 pertain to culture and tourism. The relevant humanitarian committee will propose to the deputies to introduce a special subvention to support cultural institutions, public spaces and bookstores.
«We also have a package of bills in the plans to support the book industry. «Covid thousand» showed that books were in the highest demand. We want to make such certificates permanent, at least for certain age groups. For example, so that parents can use such a certificate to buy the first books for their child or books on child care», – said Kravchuk.
***
As the deputies predict, the first two plenary weeks are unlikely to be filled with high-profile issues. This requires mobilization in the session hall. But some people's deputies may not return from the «warm lands» until mid-February, the interlocutors of the publication admit in the monomajority. And to independently adopt politically sensitive bills «Servant of the people» is getting more and more difficult.
There is another important factor that can disrupt parliamentary plans — the outbreak of «covid». Now, according to scientists, a new wave of the epidemic has already begun in Ukraine. If the infection takes on the same scale as in Western countries, then it is likely that in a couple of weeks the deputies will have to go into quarantine.