Hundreds of visitors, about one and a half hundred participants in interactive sessions and new contacts for cooperation! On May 30, the USAID RADA: Next Generation Program team presented its activities at the civil society forum "Outlines of the Future: Victory, Restoration and Modernization of Ukraine" organized by ISAR Ednannia at the Mystetskyi Arsenal.
We told the guests of the forum about our grant initiatives, trainings, research, educational projects, and numerous initiatives aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to develop Ukrainian democracy and parliamentarism.
Throughout the day, about 150 visitors participated in various interactive activities from our Program: practicing storytelling, testing their knowledge of the legislative process in Ukraine, taking a quiz on parliamentary education, and getting acquainted with the electronic resources of the Ukrainian Parliament. All participants received gifts from us.
Stanislav Ivasyk, Legal Advisor of the USAID RADA Next Generation Program, took part in the panel discussion "Meeting the EU Accession Criteria: Ukraine's Progress and the Role of Civil Society." The key thesis of his speech was the question: "What do we mean by the European integration law? Is it a law that complies with EU law in its content? Or is it a law adopted according to a procedure that meets EU institutions' and member states' standards and best practices?"
In his speech, Stanislav highlighted the parliamentary dimension of European integration. In his opinion, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has taken significant steps to improve the procedure for reviewing European integration laws. In particular, it has established a system for identifying such draft laws, required the addition of tables of compliance with EU law, provided for mandatory expert reviews by the government and the European Integration Committee before the 1st and 2nd readings, and established European integration subcommittees in each committee.
"At the same time, much work still needs to be done. It is necessary to provide a special procedure for reviewing European integration projects in the Rules of procedure, to approve a unified plan for the government and parliament to align Ukrainian legislation to EU law, to create an electronic system for monitoring this plan and make it open to the public, and to make public consultations a mandatory stage of the legislative procedure," said Stanislav Ivasyk.
Thank you for being so interested in the USAID RADA: The Next Generation Program and your desire to implement projects to benefit Ukraine's democracy together!
