The MPs have registered in the Verkhovna Rada the bill №7071, which will make the work of local councils open and transparent. The document provides appropriate amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Local Self-Government”.
It was prepared by the MPs from UKROP Taras Batenko, Oleksandr Dubinin, Viktor Shevchenko, Vitaliy Kupriy, Valentyn Didych, Oleksandr Shevchenko and Iryna Konstankevych.
So, according to the authors of the draft law, Ukrainian legislation does not currently regulate the list of cases in which citizens cannot attend the meetings of the local councils. Due to this, the bodies of self-government sometimes decide to sit in session behind closed doors. And the territorial communities represented by local councils are eliminated from making important decisions.
“However, since local councils represent communities, all issues related to property, land, budget, water resources, distribution of funds, etc., should not be considered behind closed doors, without representatives of the territorial community,” states the explanatory note to the bill.
In this regard, the MPs from UKROP propose to supplement the law on local self-government with the provisions on openness of the meetings of local councils.
According to their proposals, the meeting of local councils should be held not only publicly, but also openly, with participation of all those who want to, except for cases stipulated by law. It is also proposed to introduce a mechanism for accreditation of media representatives covering the work of the councils in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Information”.
In addition, in order to ensure publicity, it is envisaged to allow everyone present, journalists and other media representatives to broadcast live meetings of the local councils, in particular on the Internet. Besides the mass media should broadcast the meetings of the councils, when the issues of community property, land, water resources, budget, distribution of funds, etc. are being considered.
The authors of the bill propose to prohibit the local councils to hold closed-door meetings.
“The adoption of the proposed draft law will contribute to the implementation of Article 5 of the Constitution on people’s exercise of power directly and through local self-government bodies, providing an effective mechanism for ensuring transparency and openness of the work of local councils,” says the explanatory note to the draft law.
