New members of Higher Council of Justice, defense spending, and fight against mobbing

MPs appointed Maselko and Moroz as the new members of the Higher Council of Justice, increased defense spending, and want to fight mobbing in the workplace 

New members of the Higher Council of Justice under parliamentary quota 

Status: adopted. 

Who is affected: members of the Higher Council of Justice, judges, judicial candidates, citizens, businesses, government bodies, and local governments. 

Summary of the bill: Roman Maselko and Mykola Moroz are appointed as members of the Higher Council of Justice under the parliamentary quota. 

Why this is important: 

• the Higher Council of Justice is one of the most important bodies in judicial self-governance. The Higher Council of Justice has the authority to submit a request to appoint a judge, to decide on a judge’s dismissal, to give consent on suspending, detaining, or arresting a judge. It also appoints the members of the High qualification Commission of Judges that runs competitions for judicial positions 
• one of the important tasks of the judicial reform in Ukraine is to elect new decent members of the Higher Council of Justice. An ethics committee that includes international experts is engaged in the process of selecting members of the Higher Council of Justice. 

What is right: 

• civic society supported the appointments of Roman Maselko and Mykola Moroz as professional and descent candidates 
• there are now more chances that the Higher Council of Justice will work again soon. Currently, there are only 7 out of 21 members while quorum requires at least 15 members. One more member has to be appointed by the President, two — by the all-Ukrainian conference of prosecutors, two — by the congress of the representatives of legal schools, and eight — by the Congress of Judges. 

Background: on February 22, 2022, 10 out of 15 current members of the Higher Council of Justice resorted to early resignation and thus blocked the work of the key body in judicial self-governance. 

Voted in favor: factions Servant of the People (181), European Solidarity (21), Platform for Life and Peace (18), Batkivshchyna (14), Holos (9), For the Future (2), and Restoration of Ukraine (1). 

Increase in defense spending 

Draft bill # 7644 of August 8, 2022 

Status: adopted as a law 

Who is affected: service members, employees of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service, the Main Directorate of Intelligence, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the State Security Administration, the Special Communications Service, and the Cabinet 

Summary of the bill: defense spending from the government budget is increased by ₴270 bln. In particular: 

• ₴241 bln — for the Ministry of Defense 
• ₴23 bln — for the Ministry of Internal Affairs 
• ₴2.5 bln — for the Security Service of Ukraine 
• ₴2.2 bln — for the Main Directorate of Intelligence 

• ₴139 mln — for the Foreign Intelligence Service. 

What is right: proper funding for the security and defense sector. While the war is on, this money is necessary to finance the maintenance and development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, other military units, and law enforcement agencies. 

What is wrong: 

• the government budget deficit constantly grows due to additional needs of the defense sector. The Cabinet, however, does practically nothing to cut spending in other sectors to balance this deficit. This results in an excessive increase in the national debt. 
• additional funding will come from internal loans, including hryvnia emission. This will result in the weakening of the national currency. 

Voted in favor: factions Servant of the People (203), European Solidarity (16), Trust (14), Batkivshchyna (11), Platform for Life and Peace (9), For the Future (9), Holos (5), and Restoration of Ukraine (5). 

The first step to fighting mobbing in the workplace 

Draft bill # 5748 of December 7, 2021 

Status: adopted in the first reading, MPs still have time to amend the bill 

Who is affected: employers, employees, and businesses. 

Summary of the bill: 

• the draft bill proposes to ban mobbing: actions by an employer or other employees intended to humiliate or derogate the employee, to hurt his or her professional reputation, bullying, creating a tense environment via psychological or economic pressure 
• the state will guarantee legal protection against mobbing and discrimination against the employees, biased attitude at work, gender violence, an protection of dignity in the workplace 
• collective labor agreements will have to include measures to prevent and counter mobbing 

• employees will receive compensation for health damage caused by mobbing. 

What is right: 

• better protection of the employees’ rights and fight against bullying and discrimination in the workplace. According to statistics, one in two Ukrainians suffered from mobbing in some form. In Europe, from 5 to 10% of the workforce suffer from mobbing in the workplace 
• implementation of the European Union practices. In some European countries (in particular, Poland, Sweden, and France), mobbing is defined in the law as discrimination or psychological violence. According to the European Social Charter ratified by Ukraine in 2006, countries that signed it are obliged to prevent systemic dishonorable or overtly negative actions against employees in the workplace. 

Voted in favor: factions Servant of the People (199), European Solidarity (20), Trust (15), Batkivshchyna (14), Platform for Life and Peace (11), For the Future (9), Holos (7), and Restoration of Ukraine (6).