Vacations for Members of Parliament: How the Verkhovna Rada Operates During the War and Whether Lawmakers Will Be Able to Take Time Off This Year
26 June 17:03
ANALYSIS
For more than four years, members of parliament have effectively been working without paid vacation. The reason is the Verkhovna Rada’s special operating regime under martial law, which does not provide for intersessional breaks. For most lawmakers, traveling abroad is also possible only on official business trips. The deputies themselves admit that they have had to postpone family vacations until the war ends, writes
Serhiy Kalchenko, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Rules of Procedure, Deputy Ethics, and the Organization of the Verkhovna Rada’s Work, explains in a comment to
“Since the start of the major war on February 24, 2022, we have been operating under a schedule where the end of each session coincides with the start of the next. Thus, there is currently no intersessional period at all. Consequently, paid leave cannot, in principle, be granted to a lawmaker,” he noted.
According to Kalchenko, members of parliament’s travel abroad is also strictly regulated. “Only if it’s a business trip,” he emphasized.
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MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn confirms that since the introduction of special operating rules, parliament has been functioning without breaks.
“In accordance with the rules of operation during martial law, which we approved at the start of the full-scale invasion, parliament works without breaks or vacations. Therefore, the only option is to take leave at one’s own expense. Whether to take it and when is up to each MP to decide,” the lawmaker explains.
At the same time, he notes that he personally travels abroad exclusively on official business trips and has postponed family vacations outside Ukraine until the war ends.
People’s Deputy Volodymyr Vatrás shares this position. He emphasizes that in the context of a full-scale war, the issue of vacations is not relevant.
“Parliament is operating under martial law, so how can there even be any talk of vacations? What kind of vacation can we even discuss in the midst of a war?” the lawmaker notes.
According to him, male members of parliament may leave Ukraine only on official business trips, while the government recently lifted the corresponding restrictions for female members of parliament.
MP Georgiy Mazurashu says that the last time he took a full parliamentary vacation was back in 2021.
“The last time we had vacations was in 2021. This year, we were paid compensation for unused vacation time. I took this as a possible sign that the war is coming to an end,” he says.
Mazurashu himself has not traveled abroad even once since February 24, 2022. In his opinion, the current practice forces lawmakers to disguise personal trips as official business.
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