Oleh Nemchinov, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, met today with Jonathan Murphy, Head of the EU INTER PARES programme.

The meeting was also attended by Volodymyr Kondrachuk, Coordinator of the Public Administration Reform Unit of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, and Oleh Voytovych, Deputy State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

The INTER PARES project aims to develop representative and inclusive democracy worldwide and in partner countries, in particular through peer-to-peer interaction and the Team Europe approach, which promotes exchange and mutual learning between parliaments of EU member states, as well as partnerships between parliaments around the world. The project is managed by the European Commission in coordination with the European External Action Service and the European Parliament.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the role of the Government in approximating legislation to EU law, coordination between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as well as the Government’s involvement in lawmaking.

“Our Government began its work with the challenges of overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. We have been living under martial law for more than a year. But despite these circumstances, we are actively engaged in lawmaking. During the Government’s tenure, 615 bills have been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 201 have been adopted, and 53 have been passed in the first reading. These are good results.

In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ensures the expert examination of draft laws submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by other bodies with the right of legislative initiative, as well as those submitted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and its committees.

The Government and the Verkhovna Rada have established a constructive dialogue within the framework of the Verkhovna Rada’s committees, which allows us to effectively process draft laws at the stage of preparation for their consideration in the plenary sessions of the Parliament,” said Oleh Voytovych, Deputy State Secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

The Government continues to implement the Association Agreement and align Ukrainian legislation with the EU acquis. Thus, as of the beginning of 2023, Ukraine has fulfilled 72% of all its obligations under the Association Agreement.

The Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers provide for a mechanism for reviewing draft laws under consideration by the Government for compliance with Ukraine’s international legal obligations in the field of European integration, primarily the Association Agreement, including the EU acquis.

In addition, a so-called “self-screening” mechanism has been introduced as an initial assessment of the state of implementation of the entire EU acquis. Work is currently underway to analyse some 30,000 pieces of EU legislation.