Law on electronic declaration: the President vetoed it

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decided to veto draft law No. 9534, which was supposed to restore the process of declaring the income of officials and MPs. The law proposed to keep the declaration registers closed for another year.

President Zelenskyy personally announced his decision in a video address to citizens, emphasizing that restrictions on e-declarations are unacceptable. He called for the immediate abolition of these restrictions and emphasized that the declarations should be made available to the public immediately, not in a year, as envisaged by draft law No. 9534.

Earlier, MEPs called on President Zelenskyy to return draft law No. 9534 to the Verkhovna Rada and to immediately open the register of declarations. MEPs expressed their support for the idea of restoring electronic asset declarations in Ukraine, but they are outraged that the register of declarations was to remain closed to the public for another year.

A petition with a similar call to President Zelenskyy, supported by Ukrainians, gained more than 50,000 votes in two days. Citizens and journalists are convinced that the closure of the asset declaration register has deprived them of a tool to control the actions of officials and made it more difficult to fight corruption, especially in times of war.

President Zelenskyy's willingness to hold consultations with Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyn is important. He promises to carefully consider all aspects of this issue before making a final decision. It should be remembered that the adoption of this law is important for Ukraine's further cooperation with the International Monetary Fund and has the status of a European integration "structural beacon."