Elena Shulyak, leader of the Servant of the People party, is still advocating for the interests of big developers through Bill number 5655.
Today, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on state power organization, local self-government, regional development, and urban planning, may reconsider draft law number 5655 under the influence of Elena Shulyak, who is both the leader of the Servant of the People party and the deputy head of the committee. This bill grants big developers the authority to acquire their properties, establishes a new potentially corrupt body called the Town Planning Chamber under the Ministry of Regional Development, and introduces significant disorder into urban planning processes. Despite a lack of support in the committee, strong opposition to the bill from mayors of large and small cities, sharp criticism from the architectural community, and resistance from civil society, Elena Shulyak is determined to push through Bill number 5655 for a second time in order to include it in the agenda for the 13th of December in the Verhovna Rada.
Sources within the Verkhovna Rada provided this information.
Yesterday, on December 7, the Verkhovna Rada hosted a dialogue event titled “Parliament and Local Self-Government: Dialogue on the Future” based on the activities of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development, and Urban Planning.
Representatives from the Parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers were present, including:
- First Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Alexander Kornienko;
- Deputy Ministers of the Ministry of Regional Development Vyacheslav Negoda and Ivan Luker;
- Member of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee Oleksandr Pasichny, representing the Servant of the People faction;
- Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development, and Urban Planning Alina Zagoruiko, a member of the Servant of the People faction;
- Chairman of the Subcommittee on Regional Policy and Local Budgets of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, local self-government, regional development, and urban planning Vyacheslav Rublev, from the Servant of the People faction;
- Chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative-Territorial Structure and Local Self-Government of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development, and Urban Planning Vitaly Bezgin, representing the Servant of the People faction, who moderated the meeting.
Representatives from local self-government included executive director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities (AMU) Oleksandr Slobozhan, chairman of the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities (VAG) – the Kiptovsky village chairman (Chernihiv region) Volodymyr Kuchma, and the executive director of the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities Ivan Slobodyanyk. There were also representatives from the Association of United Communities, the head of the Ternopil Regional Council Mikhail Golovko, Chairman of the Volyn Regional Council Grigory Nedopad, Chairman of the Lviv Regional Council Irina Grimak, and various mayors of cities and heads of territorial communities. Many local government representatives participated in the meeting online. However, according to the provided information, not all city mayors were aware of this event and not all were invited.
Local government representatives thanked the parliamentarians and deputy ministers from the Ministry of Regional Development for certain achievements in their joint work, but also had more criticism to give.
Therefore, the head of the Ternopil Regional Council, Mikhail Golovko, posed two fundamental questions:
- what to do with the district councils inherited from the four-level Soviet system, and what will happen to them in the future?
- Why do the regional councils still lack influence on the formation of regional budgets?
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Lawmakers assured that the district councils would be abolished, but it remained unclear whether the majority party plans to eventually abolish the districts. It's been over a year that the issue of the future of the districts has been back and forth between the government and parliament.
The mayor of Bucha (Kyiv region), Anatoliy Fedoruk, the mayor of Yahotyn (Kyiv region), Natalia Dziuba, the mayor of Slavutych (Kyiv region), Yuriy Fomichev, and the village chairman of the Gatnensky community (Kyiv region), Oleksandr Palamarchuk, each in their own way, complained about conflicts in the tax legislation regarding the administration of the PIT, the State Treasury Department, the lack of status of combatants among members of the DFTG, poor communication between communities and central authorities, etc.
“President Volodymyr Zelensky personally intervened twice in resolving the issue of compensating for the difference in utility tariffs and military personal income tax,” — said the mayor of Zhytomyr Sergey Sukhomlin.
And in the Kherson region liberated from Russian invaders, for some reason, four communities were removed from the list of the zone of constant hostilities, even though the aggressors continue to shell these communities, reported a representative of local authorities from the Kherson region.
Regarding bill No. 5655, which was taken off the Verkhovna Rada's agenda after a meeting on November 30 in the Office of the President (OP) with the participation of the Deputy Head of the Office of the President Kirill Timoshenko, the main author and lobbyist (Chairman of the Servant of the People party) Elena Shulyak, the leadership of the PSA, and the mayors of big cities.
The Mayor of Belopolye (Sumy region), Yuriy Zarko, simply expressed gratitude to the parliamentarians for withdrawing No. 5655 from consideration.
The Mayor of Chertkiv (Ternopil region), Volodymyr Shmatko, pointed out that in No. 5655 it is necessary to refine the powers of local architects, strengthen the powers of local governments over unauthorized construction, and changing the facades of historical buildings. This is because bill No. 5655 transfers all these powers to the Ministry of Regional Development and individuals (the mayor of Chertkiv means the Town Planning Chamber under the Ministry of Regional Development and pocket sole proprietors of large developers, who, according to Elena Shulyak, should control the activities of these developers).
Sources in parliament state that criticism of the bill went beyond these two public admonitions against No. 5655.
“When receiving letters, the heads of the communities said to Alexander Kornienko, Vitaly Bezgin and other parliamentarians:“ No need accept 5655″. And the same topic was actively discussed after the public part of the event,” a source in parliament said.
As a result of these discussions, even the profile committee of the Verkhovna Rada (on the organization of state power, local self-government, regional development, and urban planning) began to suspect that something was truly amiss with bill No. 5655.
“Elena Shulyak also falsely told the President that the NACP had given a positive review of the final bill. The NACP did not address any of the major concerns about corruption risks before the second reading. A source in parliamentary circles told KV that there may not be enough votes to approve the bill before the second reading,
Additionally, on December 7, the secretariat of the committee of the Verkhovna Rada was still creating a table based on the comments of the NAPC, AMU, GNEU, notaries for corruption risks. This means that the amount of material for analysis by the committee members will increase significantly, and they will not be able to read all the materials in one day.
Despite this, on December 8, Elena Shulyak plans to hold a meeting of the subcommittee to agree on new amendments to No. 5655 and then hold a committee meeting to approve the bill for the second time before the second reading
“Shulyak has not yet been appointed chairman of the committee, but she acts as if she is already in charge here,” a member of the profile committee of the Verkhovna Rada complained to KV, indicating that the behavior of the chairman of the Servant of the People further proves that there are significant issues with the bill, and the mayors and architects are justified in their opposition.
“At a preliminary meeting with the mayors of the cities (on November 30 in the OP, in which, in addition to the executive director of the PSA Alexander Slobozhan, the mayor of Dnipro Boris Filatov and the mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovy took part, Shulyak had an outburst. She claimed that all local self-government bodies were corrupt, and that she had set the prosecutor's office on them. She also denied having any influence on the construction business, despite her direct involvement in the real estate and construction industry. None of those present accused her of these actions,” said a source in BP.
“It seems that draft law No. 5655 is a crucial test for Shulyak, on which her political future, financial status, or something even more important depends. There is no other way to explain her behavior,” another source in the Rada noted to KV.
It was previously reported by KV that there is a clear alliance between the head of the Servant of the People party, Elena Shulyak, and the secretary of the profile committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmitry Isaenko. He is also the Vice President of the Confederation builders of Ukraine and the owner of the group of construction companies “Perfect Group”. He was elected to parliament from the banned pro-Russian party “OPZh”.
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