Most committees of the Verkhovna Rada publish less than half of the information they are required to publish on their websites. It is proved by the OPORA Civil Network's study, said analyst Anatoliy Bodnarchuk at the conference.

 

"Only 9 committees published more than 50% of information, while other 18 committees provided less than 50%," he underlined.

 

According to the study, the committees on state building, regional policy, and local self-government; on legal policy and justice; on the standing orders and organization of activity of the parliament; as well as on the freedom of speech and information policy demonstrate better results with regard to the information published. According to the OPORA, the committees on transport; on agricultural policy; on industrial policy; on the national security and defence; and on foreign affairs demonstrate worse results.

 

The OPORA Civil Network analysed transparency of the parliament committees' activities in December 2014 – May 2016. A methodology, which includes 34 indicators, has been developed to assess the committees' transparency. It is guided by the Regulation on the web resources of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved by the Decree of the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine No. 699 of 19 May 2015, which determines the types of information to be published on the committees' websites. Other indicators have been developed on the basis of information which should be published on the committees' websites according to the OPORA Civil Network.

 

MPs Yehor Soboliev, Mustafa Nayem, and Viktoria Siumar also took part in the discussion. "I think that a committee is a platform for agreement-making between the stakeholders interested in the development of this or that draft law. An MP's task is to bring these laws through the parliament, to have a vision with regard to these laws and their expected results, and to ensure that they are adopted. I am proud that our committee on freedom of speech and information policy is efficient enough. We have managed to boost all those fundamental reforms, which Ukraine has committed to. Thanks to the committee's openness, the public had an opportunity to influence the process of decision-making," said MP Viktoria Siumar.

 

The Verkhovna Rada's Secretariat was represented by the First Deputy Chair of the Verkhovna Rada's Secretariat Volodymyr Slyshynskyi who talked about the newly introduced instruments, in particular the Electronic Conciliation Council, an electronic protocol of a plenary meeting, and a web-page of the Open Parliament Initiative, which is now available in a test mode and will be fully launched on the Verkhovna Rada's website soon.

"Parliamentary openness means, first of all, openness of all processes. For MPs, it is a real opportunity of interacting with voters, while for the voters it is a possibility to control the activities of the Verkhovna Rada online," stressed Volodymyr Slyshynskyi.

The event is organized under the framework of the Rada for Europe Project, implemented by UNDP Ukraine and funded by the European Union.