Newly elected parliament of Ukraine to hold first sitting on December 17

12:46, 16.10.2012 1 min read

The new convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, will hold its first sitting on December 17, 2012.

"The Verkhovna Rada has to start its work note later than December 15. But December 15 is a Saturday, so we'll start our work on [December] 17," the chairman of the parliamentary regulations committee, Volodymyr Makeyenko, told journalists on Tuesday.

He noted that a bill amending the parliamentary regulations has been submitted to the parliament. The document proposes to introduce the notion of the status of independent deputy, as well as provide deputies' groups with a right to table legislative initiatives.

According to Makeyenko, deputies' groups, as well as deputies' factions, should include at least 14 members.

He also said that a working group would be formed in the new parliament to elect the management of the Verkhovna Rada and form the parliamentary committees. The working group will include one deputy of every eight deputies elected under party tickets, and one deputy elected in each region and majority constituency.