The Parliament of Ukraine called the attack on a facility in Olenivka, Donetsk region, where Ukrainian prisoners of war are being held, "a planned terrorist act" and urged international organizations, governments and parliaments of the world's states to:
In his comment to the national TV marathon, Ruslan Stefanchuk reminded that the Parliament has already begun its part of the work to fulfill the seven requirements of the European Commission for the acquisition of Ukraine's membership in the EU. According to him, one of the first and most important tasks is the completion of the judicial reform, in particular the development of a draft law on the competitive selection of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Today, all branches of government work in close cooperation to fulfill the requirements for membership in the European Union. In particular, the Parliament is actively working with the Government on European integration bills, of which there are currently 49. At the same time, he said that an important innovation has appeared in the Parliament: from now on, every draft law that will be related to European integration must contain a table of compliance with the directives.
A group of MPs prepared an appeal to international organizations, governments and parliaments of the world's states, urging them to:
Some media published a list of 225 MPs, which includes First Deputy and Deputy VRU Speakers, chairs of the factions, mentioning that those MPs did not get back their diplomatic passports after their business trips abroad. Thus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement regarding their invalidity.
mainly through narrative development and info production for social media, both in English and Ukraine daily. Program’s team disseminated two issues of the information digest “Parliaments on the Frontline,” including the English language version and the Ukrainian one. English-language digest “Parliaments on the Frontline” has been sent.
On August 2-3, USAID Rada: Next Generation Program organized a two-day seminar with representatives of the Montenegrin Parliament, Skupstina on the role of parliament in the process of the country's accession to the EU. The seminar brought together more than 70 participants, among whom were MPs, members of their teams, government representatives, and civil society experts.
Members of the Montenegrin parliamentary committee on EU integration Marija Milošević and Marija Maras dwelled on the place that the parliament occupies in the institutional structure of Montenegro's European integration, as well as on political, legislative, monitoring, and communication aspects of the European integration work of the parliament. During the second day of the seminar, the role of a committee on European integration in the process of accession negotiations was regarded.
The Skupstina representatives provided specific recommendations for the Verkhovna Rada, namely to:
The Montenegrin experience is particularly important in the Ukrainian context, as the governmental and parliamentary systems of Montenegro are quite similar to those in Ukraine. Moreover, Montenegro is one of the leaders among the Western Balkans in implementing the European Commission's recommendations.
On August 1, Internews Ukraine organized a strategic session to develop the social media presence of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. VRU Secretariat employees discussed the results of an online survey of the target audience preferences as well as exchanged ideas on further improvement of the Parliament's pages on social media platforms. The proposals will be taken into account when developing a comprehensive SMM strategy for the VRU.
On August 2, USAID "Rada: Next Generation" Program's experts participated in the meetings of the three working groups’ units that deal with the parliament-government interaction, the legislative process, the code of ethics and the status of MPs. The participants of the meetings identified Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and bringing it in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine as the main issue of the working group's unit on the legislative process. The next meeting of the legislative process unit is planned for August 9.
On August 3, USAID “Rada: Next Generation” Program arranged a second session of the training on digital security in wartime for representatives of the VRU Secretariat. VRU staff learned about the basics of digital security, such as personal data protection, account security, and countering phishing threats and digital attacks. USAID “Rada: Next Generation” experts also emphasized the issues of cyber hygiene and gave their recommendations for protecting personal and work devices. Overall, the two sessions brought together more than 50 participants from various divisions of the Ukrainian Parliament.
On August 2-3, USAID Rada: Next Generation Program conducted a strategic session within the Information-consultative hub in the Lviv region for teams of MPs Mykola Knyazhytskyi, European Solidarity faction, Halyna Vasylchenko, and Natalia Pipa, both Holos faction.
The purpose of the session was to assist the teams of MPs in conducting a SWOT analysis, identifying problems in the constituency, prioritizing them, and developing a Roadmap for MPs and their teams for activity in the region under martial law. The participants identified several major needs in the region, including the adaptation of life in constituencies to the wartime reality, international cooperation, and team development.
The strategic session is aimed at assisting MPs’ in introducing information-consultative hubs within their constituencies as a platform to support and strengthen MPs-constituents communication under martial law conditions.
for the teams of MPs Yulia Kryvoruchkina, Yurii Koriavchenkov, Volodymyr Zakharchenko, Viacheslav Rubliov, Roman Kaptelov and Serhii Demchenko, all Servant of the People faction, MPs Ihor Huz and Iryna Konstankevych, both For the Future group.
The purpose of the training is to provide an understanding of strategic communications and their importance in the work of MPs and their team in the district, familiarize with approaches and provide practical tools for effective communication in the MPs team, communication with various target groups: NGOs, professional communities, local governments, media etc.), to acquaint with successful communication practices. Moreover, during the training, the teams will continue working on the previously created draft Roadmap of MPs team activity in constituencies during wartime.
The Green Book is an analytical paper that systematizes the main normative and practical problems of the legislative process in Ukraine. The event will take place via Zoom. Link: bit.ly/3p9koRe.