Adoption of the bill on openness of the Parliament will increase transparency of the Verkhovna Rada and will show the true face of people’s deputies. The MP and the member of the presidium of UKROP political council Oleksandr Dubinin has stated it commenting on the draft law “On amendments to several laws of Ukraine on ensuring openness and access to information concerning the activity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, its committees and people’s deputies of Ukraine”, that was sent by the Parliament for the repeated second reading.
“I stand for openness; I think that voters in the constituencies, as well as civil society and journalists should know position of every MP. The position of the MPs from the UKROP party consists in preventing corruption, fighting against usurpation of power and building a true European parliamentarism,” said Oleksandr Dubinin.
According to him, today many processes in the Parliament are hidden from the public. “Formation of sessions’ agenda is behind-the-scenes. The leaders of factions and the heads of committees have secret agreements about the priority of certain laws, lobbied by some factions or MPs,” he explained.
Oleksandr Dubinin has also stressed that the Ukrainian MPs have to implement the best practices of world’s parliamentarism. In particular, people’s deputies should consult with their voters about supporting certain bills. So he has given an example of the U.S. Senator Rockefeller, who held a phone survey of his district’s residents in order to know their position on how to vote for certain decisions. In this case the voters’ point of view was decisive for him.
In addition, Oleksand Dubinin has reminded that he publishes all the bills, co-authored by him, on his official website, so that anyone could express his or her opinion on these initiatives and offer the amendments. “This is one of the first steps aimed at engaging people in legislation,” said the MP.
It is to be recalled, the bill № 1591 stipulates open protocols, transcripts of the parliamentary committees’ sessions, reports about MPs’ business trips, information about MPs’ accommodation and travel expenses, budget of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, parliamentary inquiries and responses to them, as well as any other information concerning the work of the Parliament.
