Heory and History of State and Law

HEORY AND HISTORY OF STATE AND LAW UDC 342 V. Tatsii, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law UniversityKharkiv, Ukraine O. Petryshyn, National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine Kharkiv, Ukraine TWO-CHAMBER PARLIAMENT: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND EXPERIENCE OF CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMING IN UKRAINE Abstract. In the process of formation and development of the institute of parliament, there is a need for timely improvement of the organisational and functional basis, constitutional and other legislation, which contributes to the effective functioning of this institution. The existing legal non-regulation, both at the level of the Constitution and at the level of current legislation, do not allow the parliament to fully exercise its functions. According to many experts, bicameralism is a serious factor in reducing political tensions in the country, as there is usually less conflict between parties in a bicameral parliament, which leads to stabilisation of parliamentary activity based on a system of checks and balances. Taking into account the actualisation of the chosen topic of the article, its purpose is to comparatively study the experience of constitutional reforming of the countries in the field of bicameral parliament introduction, generalisation of positive practice and finding opportunities for its testing in Ukraine. The peculiarity of the article has been the combi- nation of scientific-theoretical and empirical levels of studying the issues of constitutional- legal fixing of the institute of parliament, its structure and activity, interaction with other branches of a single state power within the framework of the constitutional principle of separation of powers. The author, in view of the stated purpose, has solved the following issues: the multivariate scientific and practical approaches to the studied problems have been considered; a comparative legal analysis of the experience of forming chambers in the parliaments of the states has been conducted; conclusions and proposals on the possibility of establishing a bicameral parliament in Ukraine have been substantiated. An analysis of the role of parliaments has made it possible to come to a more thorough picture of the system of separation of powers in a particular country, about the existing restraints and counterbalances in order to further adapt the positive experience in the territory of 12 Yearbook of Ukrainian law Two-chamber Parliament: Comparative Analysis Tatsii V., Petryshyn О. and Experience of Constitutional... our country and justify the relevant reforms. In addition, the analysis made it possible to state that such a reform is urgent and necessary, but it must be carried out, provided that the proposed copyright concepts are fully correlated with the vector of European integration chosen by our country. Key words: bicameralism, European integration, reform of Ukrainian legislation, Chamber of Deputies. Introduction The introduction of a bicameral par- One of the most pressing issues of liament in Ukraine would reduce the constitutional reform is the change in the level of conflict in the mechanism of ex- institutional structure of state power, in ercising state power, strengthen the rep- particular through the possibility of es- resentative function of the parliament, tablishing a bicameral parliament [1]. increase the authority of local self-gov- According to many experts, bicameral- ernment, promote the better develop- ism is a serious factor in reducing po- ment of regions, and ensure the stability litical tensions in the country, as there is of Ukraine’s political course. In general, usually less conflict between parties in a bicameral parliaments provide a more bicameral parliament, which leads to sta- sophisticated system of national repre- bilisation of parliamentary activity based sentation than unicameral parliaments. on a system of checks and balances. This They are better at overcoming law-mak- is especially true for the current realities ing mistakes and making more balanced of Ukrainian politicum, when the con- decisions. frontational style of behaviour of politi- In addition, the point of view is very cal parties leads to the destabilisation of spread that the upper chambers are car- many state institutions, first of all, the riers of a particular type of knowledge, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. depth of political thought and sound con- Indeed, if to look at the constitution- servatism [5]. Thus, joining the upper ally mandated powers of the upper cham- chamber in Italy is associated with out- bers of parliament and the practice of standing services in the social, scientific their activity in the countries of Europe or artistic fields. Thus, during the con- and North America, it can be concluded struction of the building of the Brazilian that this chamber is intended to block the Parliament, architect O. Niemeyer chose questionable enough in terms of the ben- a quiet dome for the meeting room of the efits for the state and public development upper chamber, the Senate, while the decisions of the lower chamber that is by dynamic “bowl” crowns the hall of the its nature more prone to politicisation of lower chamber, the Chamber of Deputies approved decisions [2–4]. That is, the [6]. upper chamber is an institutional element In the context of public debate, it that is able to subdue political passions should be emphasised that a bicameral and add stability to public policy pro- parliament is not a mandatory affiliation cesses. of a federal state. Given the number of № 12/2020 13 Theory and history of state and law unitary countries with bicameralism on With this purpose in mind, the following the European continent, a bicameral par- tasks were set: 1) to consider the multi- liament can function harmoniously in variate scientific and practical approach- states with a simple administrative and es to the studied issues and to substanti- territorial structure. Thus, at least 10 ate the feasibility of establishing a bi- such countries can be found on the map cameral parliament in Ukraine; 2) to of Europe, namely: Belarus, Ireland, conduct a comparative legal analysis of Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Roma- the experience of forming chambers in nia, France, Croatia and the Czech Re- the parliaments of the states; 3) to sum- public (although in some cases the am- marise the positive foreign experience of biguity of the “simplicity” of the territo- the existence of a bicameral parliament, rial structure of these countries should to formulate sound conclusions and pro- be taken into account, such as Italy and posals regarding the possibility of estab- its autonomous regions). lishing a bicameral parliament in At the same time, it should be noted Ukraine. that not all representatives of science, 1. Materials and methods practice and experts support the idea of The article uses general scientific and establishing a bicameral parliament in special scientific methods of research, in the territory of our country. In particular, particular. General methods that define constitutional law expert B. Bondarenko philosophical and worldview approach- argues that the implementation of the es that express the most universal prin- bicameral parliament concept can take ciples of thinking. Among them are dia- ten years, and such a reform will not lead lectical and phenomenological methods to a projected positive impact on the ef- that have made it possible to analyse the fectiveness of the Verkhovna Rada of nature, concepts and meanings of con- Ukraine. In addition, the presence of stitutional reform and the introduction of paramilitary conflict and partial occupa- a bicameral parliament. tion on the territory of Ukraine will fa- General scientific methods have also cilitate, in the context of delineated re- come in handy, where empirical research form, the creation of regional parties that has played an important role: observa- will produce a negative impact on the tion, comparison, description. Widely constitutional reform of the state as a used theoretical and logical methods: whole [7]. deduction, induction, systematic ap- The alternative outlined approaches proach, methods of analysis, synthesis, substantiate the chosen purpose of the statistical method, the use of which al- article, which consists in a comparative lowed to obtain reliable knowledge about study of the experience of constitutional the processes and features of the forma- reform of countries in the field of bicam- tion of the parliamentary institution in eral parliament introduction, generalisa- Ukraine and its reforming. tion of positive practice and finding op- Special scientific methods have been portunities for its testing in Ukraine. used in the study of the evolution of the 14 Yearbook of Ukrainian law Two-chamber Parliament: Comparative Analysis Tatsii V., Petryshyn О. and Experience of Constitutional... Institute of Parliament in Ukraine and in Ukraine and electoral law?” Thus, the other countries of the world. Chrono- people of Ukraine unanimously sup- logical and comparative methods were ported the establishment of a top-level also used. The latter, divided into syn- regional representation body. The rea- chronous and diachronic methods, con- soning behind the stated people’s deci- tributed to the development of a number sion as the basis for reforming the system of proposals based on foreign experience of representative institutions during the in optimising the functioning of the Par- further implementation of the planned liament of Ukraine and the introduction vectors of transformation

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