The Verkhovna Rada supported the draft law on the transparency of local councils. The main points
- Author:
- Sofiia Telishevska
- Date:
The Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian Parliament) adopted a draft law on the transparency of the work of local self-government bodies. Local councils will now have to publish video recordings of sessions and standing committees, as well as conduct an inventory of community property.
The MP from the "Voice" faction Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported this.
Itʼs about draft law No. 6401, which should expand the opportunities of citizens to participate in the processes of local self-government, and encourage deputies of local councils, heads of councils and employees of executive bodies of councils to "effectively exercise their powers."
The bill proposes:
- publish video recordings of sessions and standing commissions of local councils, and after the war — conduct live broadcasts;
- keep a public archive of meeting records for at least 5 years;
- report at council meetings only in Ukrainian;
- it is mandatory to publish draft agendas of standing committee meetings and the results of roll-call voting;
- to regularly publish in the form of open data information on property rights of territorial communities — this will allow investors to find interesting objects for capital investment in the community;
- a regular inventory of community assets, which is expected to help the council, citizens and businesses more effectively assess and use the communityʼs available resources;
- more "transparency" after the end of martial law.
In April 2023, Transparency International Ukraine presented a study of the work of city councils during the war. Then Dnipro, Lviv and Mukachevo received the status of "transparent" cities. At the same time, another 10 cities were identified as "partially transparent", among them Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Uzhhorod and Chernivtsi. The authors of the study note that finding a balance between limiting access to information and protecting people from threats from Russia has become a challenge for Ukrainian cities.