Changes to the government budget

Changes to the government budget 

Draft bill #8399 of January 30, 2023 

Cosponsors: a group of MPs from the Servant of the People faction with Roksolana Pidlasa, head of the parliamentary Budget Committee, as the first signatory. 

Who is affected: the Cabinet, the Verkhovna Rada, the Ministry for the Development of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure, international donors and partners, the Ministry of Finance, the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine 

Summary of the bill: 

• increases spending from the government budget by ₴5.5 bln (₴445 mln — from grants, ₴3.8 bln — from external credits, ₴1.3 bln — from returning of funds by the Ministry of Economy provided to fund the Social Insurance Fund) 
• budget programs of the Ministry of Communities and the Ministry of Infrastructure will be merged due to the merger of these ministers 
• the bill allows provisions in international treaties to waive the sovereign immunity of Ukraine in possible disputes regarding such obligations and their ratification by the Verkhovna Rada. That is, it will be possible to sue Ukraine in case such treaties are violated, and the Cabinet of Ministers will be able to conclude such treaties independently, without the Parliament 
• the bill suspends the provisions from the Law on Media about remuneration for the members of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting, other officials of the Council’s apparatus and funding of the Council received from charges for the use of radio frequency resources of Ukraine. 

Why this is important: according to MP Roksolana Pidlasa, this funding will be spent on the following: 

• modernization of three hospitals: Okhmadyt, university clinic in Kyiv, and rehabilitation center in Lviv — ₴1.35 bln (from the credit provided by the government of Austria) 
• bridge reconstruction program — ₴1.12 bln from (from the credit provided by the government of the United Kingdom) 
• grants for small and microbusinesses (processing sector) — ₴1.28 bln 
• the establishment of checkpoints — ₴1.1 bln (from the credit provided by the government of Poland) 

• the Fund of Partial Credit Guarantees for agriculture — ₴365 mln (from the grant provided by the World Bank). 

What is right: 

• the distribution of funds granted and provided as credits. Without changes to the government budget, this money could not have been used 
• an update to the government budget is needed after the merger of ministries. 

What is wrong: 

• changes to the Law on Media concerning the funding of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine. They undermine the guarantees of the independence of the state regulatory body and indicate that the legislator has no clear vision of its policy: the Law on Media was passed in December, and it is supposed to come into effect on March 31 
• the powers of the Verkhovna Rada to ratify international agreements were limited. These powers are granted to the Parliament by the Constitution, so it is illegal to strip them by any law or international agreement. 

Alternative solution: to exclude the changes to the Law on Media since it can make the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine dependent on the state and oligarchs.