Yurchyshyn: Council of Europe supports draft bill on opening Verkhovna Rada committees

The Council of Europe has given a favorable review and supported the draft bill No. 11321 (Bill No. 4212–IX) on the opening up the Verkhovna Rada committees and giving guarantees to journalists, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, reports on Facebook.

He says that in recent days the Committee has received support for the bill from key associations of journalists in Europe and the world, such as Reporters Without Borders, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), European Federation of Journalists – EFJ.

“The Council of Europe clearly stated that our bill 'is a significant step forward in ensuring the rights of journalists and media professionals, as well as ensuring citizens’ access to public information,'” Yurchyshyn wrote.

He also listed some important details from the Council of Europe’s conclusion, which said that the proposed amendments to the bill:

• meet European standards of media freedom and the right to information;
• strengthen Ukraine's commitment to democratic values;
• strengthen its integration into the European legal and political framework.

“This means that the implementation of the bill is a good argument for partners on our path to the EU,” Yaroslav Yurchyshyn wrote, adding that the President is currently expected to sign the bill.

“The deadlines set for this by the Constitution are slowly approaching,” he stressed.

Institute of Mass Information director Oksana Romaniuk stressed that the amendments proposed to the bill are part of Ukraine's path to the EU.

“The bill No. 11321, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada as a whole on January 14, introduces modern European standards in Ukraine in terms of access to information and the work of government bodies. The report by the Council of Europe experts and the assessments by well-known international organizations confirm this. These amendments are not just an update of the law. They are part of our path to the EU and to democratic, transparent, and accountable governance," Oksana Romaniuk wrote on Facebook.

Previously

On January 14, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada overall supported the bill No. 11321 “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Enhancing Certain Guarantees for the Work of the Media, Journalists, and for Citizens' Access to Information”. The bill provides for granting the media and the public open access to Verkhovna Rada committee meetings.

The Institute of Mass Information called for the document to include permission for journalists with UAF accreditation to travel freely during curfew. However, this provision was cut from the final version of the draft bill.

In December 2024, ultiple civil society organizations and media professionals called on the Verkhovna Rada to make parliamentary committee meetings open to journalists and the public and to adopt draft bill No. 11321 by the end of the year. The address argued that currently there are no security risks that could be in the way of increasing transparency of the Verkhovna Rada committee meetings.

The IMI explained that draft bill No. 11321 creates no new obligations for media outlets to remove readers' comments. It only clarifies the existing clause of an article from the Law "On Media".