People’s Council Chairman reports activities of DPR parliament

On December 20, before the plenary meeting, parliamentarians heard a report by the Chairman of the People’s Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Vladimir Bidyovka, summarizing the results of the work of the DPR parliament for the period from November 19, 2018 to December 20, 2019.

In his speech, the Speaker of Parliament spoke about the quantitative and qualitative indicators of the People’s Council work, elaborated in detail on the laws and resolutions that are most significant for the Republic and its development, emphasizing the role that they play in the life of the state. Also, Vladimir Bidyovka highlighted the deputies’ activity in the districts, work plans for the near future and issues of inter-parliamentary cooperation and development of international cooperation.

“In total, during the reporting period, 188 bills were registered in the People’s Council, 43 plenary meetings were held, including 35 ordinary and 8 extraordinary ones, during which 82 laws and 214 resolutions were adopted.

Also, the crucial activity of MPs is work with the population. Considerable attention is paid to the frontline areas, as well as to the settlements furthest from the capital of the Republic.

From December 10, 2018 to December 20, 2019, about 3.5 thousand receptions were held as part of work in the districts, in public reception offices, as well as at enterprises.

In the framework of this format of communication with citizens, MPs considered more than 10 thousand applications, of which about 40% are related to housing and utilities services.

Besides, parliamentarians regularly communicate with residents as part of citizens’ gatherings and meetings with labour collectives. Over the year, over 600 gatherings and over a thousand such meetings were held, the total number of participants exceeding 35 thousand people,” the Chairman of the People’s Council said.

According to him, during the reporting period, a number of laws and decrees were adopted that established statutory regulation in new areas. Thus, the DPR Law “On Notaries” returned the institution of private notaries in addition to the institution of public notaries, and the DPR Law “On the Civic Chamber of the Donetsk People’s Republic” ensures the coordination of socially significant interests of citizens and authorities to address the most important issues of the socioeconomic and cultural development of the state, protect the rights and freedoms of citizens. The DPR Law “On the State Border of the Donetsk People’s Republic” also defines the borders of the Republic.

“Most decisions touched upon aspects of organizing the internal work of parliament. I’d like to dwell on those related to national issues. So, thanks to the adoption of the Decree “On the Creation of the Youth Parliament”, a completely new platform for young public opinion leaders has appeared in our country.

And the Decree “On Ensuring the Security of the Donetsk People’s Republic in the Areas of the Disengagement of Forces and Means” determines that the DPR’s Ministry of Internal Affairs units are to be symmetrically deployed to the zone of the disengagement of forces and means in case the Ukrainian National Guard and/or the national police is deployed to the demilitarized section in the area of the Petrovskoye settlement,” the parliamentarian said.

Vladimir Bidyovka also noted the establishment of new inter-parliamentary ties and the development of international cooperation.

“During the reporting period, agreements on inter-parliamentary cooperation were signed with the State Council of the Republic of Crimea, as well as with the Parliament of the Republic of South Ossetia. Establishing relations at such a high level has helped to build an effective system of interaction between parliaments to exchange experiences and apply best law-making practices, of course, taking into account the unique specifics of each region.

Besides, in 2019, representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic three times performed as international election observers: in the election of the Parliament of the Republic of South Ossetia and in both rounds of the presidential elections in the Republic of Abkhazia,” the People’s Council Chairman reported.

Summing up, Vladimir Bidyovka announced the work plans of the People’s Council for 2020. He noted that one of the main tasks for next year that the parliament set would be the codification of legislation.

“The first step in this direction – the adoption of the Civil Code – has already been taken. In the near future there will be the adoption of the Civil Procedure Code, the Arbitration Procedure Code, the Labour Code, as well as the Family Code,” the Parliament Speaker spoke about the plans.