MP Ostap Yednak, who is the secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy, believes that President Petro Poroshenko should withdraw his veto on environmental assessment bills.
Speaking on 4 November at a roundtable conference in Gorshenin Institute organized jointly with the Reanimation Package of Reforms, Yednak said it was not clear why the bills approved by the parliament were rejected.
"If you open the notes [by the president] they're just commonplace declarative things. It is very strange. Is this abuse of power or incompetence? How can Bankova prepare such substandard, absolutely declarative? I have no idea how the committee would take them into account to draft a revised bill. With this approach one can torpedo just any bill," he said.
The lawmaker did not rule out that a business lobby could be behind the veto.
"Last week we had no slightest that president may slam a veto. Who has advised the president to wreck two environmental bills? It looks like someone has framed Mr President," Yednak said.
Overall, the lawmaker believes that, ideally, Poroshenko has to withdraw his veto and green light to give introduction of environmental assessment in Ukraine.
On October 31, President Petro Poroshenko vetoed the law (registration number 3259) on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which is one of Ukraine's commitments under the European Union Association Agreement.
Poroshenko also vetoed the law (№2009a-e) on the assessment of the impact on the environment. This evaluation concerns the environmental impact of the planned activities of business entities.