Experts team up with the MPs to produce recommendations they hope will further develop into the code of the parliamentary ethics.
Analytical report “Ethical Code of a member of parliament” is to become the basis for the future Code of Parliamentary Ethics. “Ethical Code of the member of parliament has to come directly from the MPs and the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament – UCMC). We hope that the document will not only be widely presented by us but that it will also be widely discussed by the MPs. We hope to hear their suggestions on how to improve the document and how to proceed with its elaboration,” said Svitlana Matvienko, Head of the Council of the Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives, at a press-briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.
“The Code is a key tool to prevent corruption. It is much better to prevent corruption at the moment when this risk emerges, as the conflict of interest is a typical environment for corruption to emerge,” noted MP Serhiy Leshchenko.
The Ethical Code is important for next generations of MPs, said MP Ostap Yednak. Adoption of this document will help the future MPs to figure out their rights and obligations in a better and quicker way as well as to outline the ethical standards and acts that regulate the conflict of interest and other aspects crucial for the increase of trust to the Parliament.
Ihor Kohut, director of the USAID RADA Program, emphasized that the Code of the parliamentary ethics is clearly stipulated in the roadmap for internal reform of the Verkhovna Rada as well as in the European Parliament’s report. That’s why MPs’ participation in development and improvement of the document is required. “It is very important that the MPs realize that they are the authors of this document and thus their legitimacy is at stake,” said MP Olena Sotnyk.
The report was prepared by the Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives with the support of the Matra Programme of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Ukraine, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy as well as of the USAID RADA Program. The document consolidates the existing standards of the Ukrainian legislation regarding the MPs. Among the main topics addressed by the Code is the conflict of interest, lobbying, session hall rules, etc. The report is available in Ukrainian.
