Will the mother-in-law save her son-in-law? New mobilization law: first amendments passed by the committee

The government bill on mobilization (10449) will be considered in the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada, likely at the end of March or in April. The bill is very sensitive to society, and many politicians are trying to play on the sentiments of voters.

This is one of the reasons why after the first reading, over 4000 amendments were submitted to the project. However, the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada has found a way to prevent thousands of amendments from blocking the consideration of the project. On March 12, deputies began considering them.

Recall that the first reading of the bill took place in early February. No deputy from the European Solidarity and “Batkivshchyna” parties voted “for” the government document then. Now representatives of various political forces are explaining under what conditions they will be ready to support the legislative initiative during the final vote.

However, deputies working on the bill now come to the conclusion: it will not help increase the pace of mobilization quickly, but should be aimed at increasing the percentage of those who will be registered. Therefore, if we talk about increasing the number of mobilized, this bill will work for the medium-term perspective at most. This is emphasized by committee members.

What will happen to people with disabilities, whether they will leave “care for the father-in-law and mother-in-law,” whether conscription will become mandatory in the electronic cabinet — the positions on these and other issues were clarified by the public initiative “Golka” representatives of various factions and deputy groups.

Dilemma: a blow to rights or national security?

On March 12, the Committee on National Security began considering amendments to the government bill. Committee member Irina Fryz (“European Solidarity”) emphasizes that if the consideration of amendments continues at the same pace, they may finish by the end of the week.

One of the members of the Committee on National Security on the terms of anonymity explains: “Now the biggest problem for the Ministry of Defense and the territorial defense units is that two-thirds of citizens who can be mobilized are not registered, and it is impossible to count them, determine where they are or whether they have the right to armor or deferment due to lack of information. We cannot force them to come to the territorial defense units, update the data and register. We are talking about millions of people. Therefore, this project is primarily about registration, and about how to motivate people to register. There are very few additional options to strengthen mobilization in this legislative initiative. Some things will actually work at the end of the year or at the beginning of the next year. So there is no point in expecting that deputies will vote and the number of mobilized will increase. Firstly, this task is not set, secondly, there are no mechanisms in this legislative initiative.”

And here it is worth recalling that the parliament long ago voted for another government project (9281), which lowered the age limit for mobilization to 25 years. But since June of last year, Volodymyr Zelensky has not signed it.

Why is Parliament voting on the mobilization law again?

Dmytro Razumkov

Member of Parliament, Head of the Inter-Factional Deputy Association "Smart Politics"

Here it is clear. The President's office, as always, wants all the reputational risks to fall on Parliament, which is why the president hasn't signed for almost a year. This is a standard procedure. Now Parliament is being asked to vote on it again. And the Verkhovna Rada can do this because the government's proposed bill contains more extensive provisions. But the question arises, to which they must provide an answer: how many people will changing this age threshold help to recruit?

Regarding individuals with disabilities in the new bill, the committee leans towards granting deferment to all three disability groups. However, there may be a nuance: those who received the third disability group after February 24, 2022, will need to undergo re-examination. Any disability group entitles one to deferment or exemption. A disabled person may serve if they wish (the law allows this), but if they change their mind, they can resign at any time without undergoing a medical examination.

As for the “care for relatives” option, the possibility of deferment may disappear if there are other close relatives available to provide care for a mother-in-law or father-in-law. It must be acknowledged that some citizens exploit this option as a loophole.

On March 12, the committee unanimously decided against freezing bank accounts, cards, or revoking driver’s licenses. Following this decision, the committee chair concluded the meeting.

As for the issue of discharge into reserve (demobilization) timelines, whether it will be after 36 months or there will be some other, shorter term provided for this, a decision has not yet been made. Discussions are still ongoing.

The much-discussed introduction of electronic draft notices is also unlikely to be implemented. The law may only include a provision for sending a notification to the electronic cabinet about the sending of a paper draft notice. However, such a notification does not lead to any legal consequences. Under these conditions, one cannot be considered an “evader.” There are no guarantees that this electronic cabinet will be launched by the time the law comes into force. Accordingly, references to it have been removed from the final provisions for now.

Another task that this bill must address is the registration of military personnel abroad. Consular establishments have specialists who are supposed to keep track of this registration, but Ukrainians who have left the country do not register. Here, lawmakers face the question of how to motivate men to do so. If some consular services are restricted, this may affect the number of registrations. Currently, the state does not even know where individuals are and in which country, while the military need to know whether they can count on these people.

How are the deputies dealing with amendments?

As it turned out the next day, nearly 4200 amendments were submitted to this government bill. Some media outlets are spreading information that this is a record number of amendments. This is not the case. For context, the bill on the land market had almost 11,000 amendments, the “anti-Akhmetov” law had over 16,000 amendments.

All amendments were divided into 16 thematic blocks. This was reported by the chairman, Oleksandr Zavitnevich (“Servant of the People”).

If the committee reaches agreement within a thematic block on how to address an issue, for example, regarding people with disabilities and caregivers or regarding third group disabilities, then a general vector is formed, and there is no need to vote on each individual amendment in the committee, which saves time. There may be several hundred identical amendments, and if each one were voted on separately, it would take several weeks.

Next, the committee must create a table indicating which amendments are fully considered, which partially, and which are rejected. Then each faction and deputy group will receive this table.

On the last day of submitting amendments on February 21, the leader of “Batkivshchyna,” Yulia Tymoshenko, emphasized that her political force has a number of demands: there are amendments that her deputies will support, and there are those with which they will definitely not agree.

Representatives of “Batkivshchyna” advocate for the immediate demobilization of conscripts and general demobilization after 18 months of service, against reducing the draft age from 27 to 25 years, although, as mentioned earlier, parliament has already voted on this.

What is the position of the European Solidarity faction?

Iryna Frіz

Member of Parliament, member of the Committee on National Security (European Solidarity)

For our faction, it is important that the Stavka [a military council] is not empowered to make decisions about demobilization. This mechanism should be simple and understandable to everyone. And everyone should understand that 18 months of service, when we are talking about actual combat positions, is like a day or two. As for caring for relatives, our position is this: everything should remain as it is. If a father-in-law or mother-in-law has chosen a caregiver for the serviceman, he should have that opportunity. As for blocking cards, we consider this unacceptable. The proposal to revoke driver's licenses also raises questions for us. Since March 12, the committee has begun considering amendments. And the position of our faction will depend on which amendments are taken into account.

In the Razumkov group, there are their own reservations and arguments, and somewhere they overlap with the ES regarding caring for fathers-in-law or mothers-in-law or those who are studying in graduate school on a contract basis.

What is one of the biggest problems?

Dmytro Razumkov

Member of Parliament, Head of the Inter-Factional Deputy Association "Smart Politics"

We cannot allow only those who are studying on a contract basis to be mobilized. We understand that there may be a loophole here, but this is a matter for universities, not the state, to ensure that there are no such loopholes. But one of the biggest problems we see right now is assigning the responsibility of delivering men to the TCC to businesses or local government bodies. If we're talking about business, such an algorithm will provoke layoffs and a transition to the shadow economy. As a result, the economy will not receive funds. And if the state shifts something to local government bodies, resources should be provided downwards to carry out such tasks. As for blocking bank accounts, how many cases have there been where a man has served for two years but the TCC does not see him on the list? So, all of this needs to be taken into account. The economy has already lost at least 27.4 billion hryvnias because citizens heard about the blocking of accounts and rushed to withdraw funds.

In the “Dovira (Trust)” group, it is noted that local government bodies cannot be entrusted with functions that are not inherent to them, including issues related to mobilization. The head of the group, MP Oleg Kulinich, emphasizes this point.

What is the position of the parliamentary group "Dovira"?

Oleg Kulinich

People's Deputy, head of the parliamentary group "Dovira"

Our position regarding demobilization terms is as follows: it should be 36 months from the date of conscription for those already in service. All other proposals are populism because we understand that full-scale war has been ongoing for two years already. The rotation period of a brigade from "zero" to the rear should be a year. No electronic summons and blocking of bank accounts. Everything concerning disabled individuals and caregivers should remain within the current framework.

In addition, deputies from the “Dovira” propose to establish training centers for conscripts within existing battalions. These small centers, accommodating 40-50 individuals, will have the necessary infrastructure and a staff of instructors to undergo quality training for up to six months. According to the group’s idea, it is impossible to call up a person during the six months of training with the battalions; they have a kind of “reserve.” Afterward, they sign a conscription contract with the Armed Forces and receive bonuses equivalent to their annual salary.

“This will change the mobilization system from coercion to voluntarism,” believes Oleg Kulynych.

MP Viktor Baloha emphasized in February that in the country, there are tens of thousands of people who have been benefiting from the country for years and retired at a young age:

Who exactly are we talking about?

Viktor Baloha

Member of Parliament (non-factional)

I mean military personnel and law enforcement officers who, at the age of 40-45, retired and received various privileges because they "worked hard" for the state. And today, only a small part of these over two hundred thousand people defend the homeland, while the rest are not of interest to the authorities. At the same time, those who have been civilians all their lives are primarily mobilized, those who need to be taught elementary things, including basic weapon handling. Builders, tractor drivers, loaders, locksmiths, IT specialists, plumbers, and electricians are mobilized first and defend the country, while retired law enforcement officers and military personnel, often with fabricated disabilities, are not of interest to anyone. Is there a problem in finding them? I am confident that there is not – if there is the desire and political will.

Deputies from “For the Future” supported the government’s bill with seven votes in the first reading.

If the consideration of amendments is delayed and deputies do not object, the Verkhovna Rada may consider the bill at the end of March or early April.

Especially for “Glavkom“