One of the key ways to compromise between factions became an increase in the number of parliamentary committees and, consequently, in the number of executive positions. Ukraine's parliamentary members showed a great interest in committees which prepare matters concerning economic influence. On the contrary, committees on social and humanitarian issues were not so popular. Such situation proves that members of parliament are far from keeping their election promises, which had predominantly social character.
As a result, the Party of Regions and allied self-nominated candidates, as well as the CPU faction, have formed the majority in 19 committees. The opposition forces, All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland, UDAR, All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda – only in 5 committees.
The Party of Regions have received executive positions in the most influential and appealing committees. Committees headed by representatives of the opposition don't give them control over social and economic processes.
Inter-factional negotiations on the committees were quite informal. Factions were choosing their representatives for executive positions in committees through non-public arrangements. None of the factions have announced its intentions for this important side of parliamentary activities. Such situation may negatively influence on public support of the Verkhovna Rada's initiatives in the future. The first and foremost what the factions should do, is to publicly explain their choice of newly-elected heads of committees. Besides that, the heads should personally announce their plan of future activities.
On December 25, 2012, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine have created 29 committees and a Special Control Commission on Privatization. 339 members of parliament supported this decision. Right before their creation the Law of Ukraine "On Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine" was amended and restriction on the number of first deputy heads and deputy heads was lifted [1].
Comparing to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the previous convocation, the number of committees have increased from 26 to 29. According to the Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine "On Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine", the minimal number of committee members is 9 people, maximal – is 30. At the same time, these restrictions were not followed during formation of parliamentary committees of the seventh convocation.
Division of Ukrainian parliamentary members between the Committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
The Committee on Budget; on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations; on Taxation and Customs Policy; on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety became the most popular committees.
The Committee on Informatization and Information Technologies; on Culture and Spirituality; on Human Rights; on National Minorities and International Relations; on Family Matters, Youth Policy, Sports and Tourism, are the less popular among parliamentary members. The Committee on Matters of Pensioners, Veterans and Persons with Disabilities was formed with the smaller membership than it's provided by the Law. Despite the majority of deputies have paid a lot of attention to social standards of pensioners, only 7 persons will be working on these issues (see table 1).
The Party of Regions, the All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland, and UDAR have delegated their representatives to all committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The CPU faction has no representatives in five committees, and the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda – in one.
| Name of the Committee | Total number of members | The Party of Regions | The CPU | All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland | UDAR | All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda | Non-faction |
| Committee on Budget | 36 | 19 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations | 29 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy | 26 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety | 21 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Communal Services and Regional Policy | 17 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, Ethics and Support to Work of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine | 17 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Transport and Communications | 17 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Committee on European Integration | 16 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Committee on Foreign Affairs | 16 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Committee on Legislative Support of Law Enforcement | 16 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Committee on State Building and Local Self-Government | 16 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Economic Policy | 15 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Committee on Judicial Policy | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Committee on Environmental Policy, Use of Natural Resources and Chornobyl Aftermath Mitigation | 14 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Committee on Industrial and Investment Policy | 14 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Finance and Banking | 14 | 2 | |||||
| Organized Crime Control and Anti-Corruption Committee | 13 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Committee on National Security and Defence | 13 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Committee on the Rule of Law and Justice | 13 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Committee on Public Health | 12 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Committee on Social Policy and Labour | 12 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Entrepreneurship, Regulatory and Antimonopoly Policy | 11 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Science and Education | 10 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information | 10 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee for Informatization and Information Technologies | 9 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Culture and Spirituality | 9 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations | 9 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Committee on Family Matters, Youth Policy, Sports and Tourism | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Committee on Matters of Pensioners, Veterans and Persons with Disabilities | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
The majority in parliamentary committees
According to the procedure of holding committee meetings, they are considered to be effective if more than a half of their membership is present. Acts of committees may be passed with the support of the half of present members.
If we look at the membership closer, it's easy to see that the Party of Regions and their allies can easily get the majority of the membership in 19 of 29 committees. Besides that, the Party of Regions itself has the majority in 7 committees, including those of the biggest influence. The All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland, UDAR and the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda may unite and get the majority in 5 committees. In 4 committees pro-power interests and the interests of the opposition have equal representation.
Formation of the simple majority in parliamentary committees | Number of Committees | List of Committees |
| The Party of regions (PR) (single-party) | 7 | Committee on Budget; Economic Policy; On Informatization and Information Technologies; On Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety; Entrepreneurship, Regulatory and Antimonopoly Policy; On Industrial and Investment Policy; On Transport and Communications |
The PR+CPU or loyal non-faction deputies (pro-power coalition)[2] | 13 | Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations; Construction, Urban Development, Housing and Communal Services and Regional Policy; On the Rule of Law and Justice; On State Building and Local Self-Government; On Legislative Support of Law Enforcement; On Foreign Affairs; On National Security and Defence; On Taxation and Customs Policy; On Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, Ethics and Support to Work of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; On Family Matters, Youth Policy, Sports and Tourism; On Social Policy and Labour; On Finance and Banking; On Judicial Policy |
| All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland+UDAR+ Svoboda (opposition coalition) | 5 | Organized Crime Control and Anti-Corruption Committee; Committee on Culture and Spirituality; On Science and Education; On Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations; On Freedom of Speech and Information |
| Almost equally divided "pro-power - opposition" (indefinite) | 4 | Committee on Environmental Policy, Use of Natural Resources and Chornobyl Aftermath Mitigation; On European Integration; On Public Health; On Matters of Pensioners, Veterans and Persons with Disabilities |
Executive positions in committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
The Verkhovna Rada of the seventh convocation has considerably increased the number of executive positions in committees. The previous convocation of the VR allowed appointment of the Head (1), Firt Deputy Head (1), and Secretary (1) with the membership from 11 to 30 deputies. The membership of 30 deputies allowed the appointment of two Deputy Heads. The effective Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has removed this restriction and, therefore, a number of new executive positions was created in committees. For example, there are two First Deputy Heads and three Deputy Heads in the Committee on Budget. The Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations has two First Deputy Heads and four Deputy Heads. Committees which are popular among the deputies have similar changes in their membership.
Division of executive positions has become a political compromise between all the factions. Their leaders have submitted a corresponding Resolution for the consideration in the Parliament. The Party of Regions and the All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland hold the majority of executive positions. The only non-faction candidate, which became the Head of a Committee, became a former speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.
Table 3
Division of executive positions between factions and non-faction deputies in committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Factions/non-faction deputies | The Party of Regions | All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland | UDAR | The CPU | All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda | Non-faction | Total number of posts |
| Committee Head | 13 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 29 |
| First Deputy Head of the Committee | 15 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 40 |
| Deputy Head of the Committee | 32 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 65 |
| Secretary of the Committee | 9 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 29 |
| Total number of posts | 69 | 39 | 20 | 12 | 15 | 8 | 163 |
Appointment of the Committee Heads became the key issue of the division. Despite the interfactional compromise was reached, the most influential committees were chaired by the Party of Regions. A decision to give the Committee on Budget to the sphere of influence of the pro-power party have caused a lot of controversy, because it was traditionally chaired by the opposition.
The Party of Regions chairs the following committees: Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations; On Budget; On the Rule of Law and Justice; On State Building and Local Self-Government; On Foreign Affairs; On Informatization and Information Technologies; On Public Health; On Taxation and Customs Policy; On Judicial Policy; On Industrial and Investment Policy; On Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, Ethics and Support to Work of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine; On Transport and Communications; On Finance and Banking.
The All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland is presiding over the Committee on Economic Policy; On European Integration; On Legislative Support of Law Enforcement; On Culture and Spirituality; On Science and Education; On Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety; On Matters of Pensioners, Veterans and Persons with Disabilities; On Entrepreneurship, Regulatory and Antimonopoly Policy; On Freedom of Speech and Information.
The UDAR party is presiding over the Organized Crime Control and Anti-Corruption Committee; Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations; On Family Matters, Youth Policy, Sports and Tourism.
The CPU is presiding over the Committee on construction, urban development, housing and communal services and regional politics; On Social Policy and Labour.
The All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda is presiding over the Committee on Environmental Policy, Use of Natural Resources and Chornobyl Aftermath Mitigation.
Non-faction Member of Parliament Volodymyr Lytvyn is presiding over the Committee on National Security and Defence.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has also created the Special Control Commission on Privatization. It's membership consists of 17 individuals (the Party of Regions – 6, CPU – 1, All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland – 6, UDAR – 3, the Svoboda faction – 1). The Commission was headed by the CPU faction member, its First Deputy Head – member of the Party of Regions, Deputy Heads – representatives of the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, the Secretary is the Party of Regions faction member.
Factions failed to find an unanimous political compromise on parliamentary committees. According to the site of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the MP of Ukraine Volodymyr Vecherko, memebr of the Party of Regions, has abstained from voting during the voting for the corresponding Resolution. In the All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland, Mykola Katerynchuk has voted against, and Volodymyr Ariev, Oleksandr Bryhynets, Roman Ilyk have abstained from voting. Non-faction deputies Viktor Baloha, Oleksandr Dombrovskyi, Hryhorii Zabolotnyi, Oles Donii, Petro Poroshenko, Serhii Myshchenko didn't support the division of committees.
Heads of the factions in committees of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
The Party of Regions
Oleksandr Yefremov was included to the Committee on Rules of Parliamentary Procedure, Ethics and Support to Work of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland
Arsenii Yatseniuk was included to the Committee on Matters of Pensioners, Veterans and Persons with Disabilities.
The UDAR party
Vitalii Klychko was included to the Committee on State Building and Local Self-Government.
The CPU
Petro Symonenko was included to the Committee on Judicial Policy.
All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda
Oleh Tiahnybok was included to the Committee on Informatization and Information Technologies.
Non-faction deputies:
Viktor Baloha and Petro Poroshenko – the Committee on European Integration; Oles Donii – Committee on Culture and Spirituality.
Non-faction members of Parliament Andrii and Oleksandr Tabalovs, which refused to join the All-Ukrainian Union Fatherland faction, will work in the Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy and the Committee on Budget.