Amendments depriving the President of unconstitutional powers

Draft bill #9221 of April 19, 2023 

Cosponsors: MPs Oleh Voronko, Anatolii Burmich, and Yevhen Yakovenko (the Restoration of Ukraine group) 

Status: submitted to the Verkhovna Rada 

Who is affected: the President, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Verkhovna Rada, the Antimonopoly Committee, the State Property Fund, and the Security Service of Ukraine 

Summary of the bill:  

• the President will no longer have the unconstitutional power to appoint the Head of the Antimonopoly Committee with the consent of the Verkhovna Rada. This power will be transferred to the Prime Minister 
• the President will no longer have the unconstitutional power to appoint the Head of the State Property Fund. This power will also be transferred to the Prime Minister  
• the President will no longer have the unconstitutional power to appoint the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine. Instead, the Head of the SSU will be appointed by the Verkhovna Rada upon submission by the President. 

What is right: 

• the Head of the Antimonopoly Committee, the Head of the State Property Fund, and the Head of the SSU will be appointed in accordance with the Constitution 
• the bill gives a chance for Ukraine to make a step towards a better balance of powers and speed up its democratic development, as we have repeatedly emphasized before. 

What is wrong:  the President will still retain the unconstitutional power granted by the Law on the Security Service of Ukraine — the power to appoint deputies of the Head of the SSU, as well as heads of SSU regional departments.