National council for recovery of Ukraine from the consequences of war: to the scientific controversy about legal status
Authors: Kysil Liudmyla 
Published: August 2023

Introduction. On April 21, 2022, by Decree of the President of Ukraine No.266/2022, the National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine from the Consequences of the War was established as a consultative and advisory body under the President of Ukraine, and the Regulations on it and its staff were approved.

The National Council prepared the Plan for the Reconstruction of Ukraine after the war and presented it at the international conference in Lugano on July 4–5, 2022 as a “road map” for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. And since in the conditions of the war unleashed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the right to participate in the management of state affairs is limited, there was no extensive discussion of this Plan. However, the issues that arose in the process of its preparation and adoption are quite relevant.

Aim of the article – is to clarify the correspondence of the powers of the National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine from the Consequences of the War to its legal status as a consultative body under the President of Ukraine, the legal force of acts adopted by it and the problems of their implementation.

Results. The issue of the legal status of consultative and advisory bodies, bodies that serve the President’s activities, has been the subject of scientific debate in legal science for a long time.

There is also an attempt to define the concept of a consultative body in the current legislation of Ukraine. For example, in accordance with the Standard Regulation on the advisory, advisory and other auxiliary bodies established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Standard Regulation), approved by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “Issues of advisory, advisory andother auxiliary bodies established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine” dated June 17 No. 599 of 2009, the consultative and advisory body is a permanent or temporary body of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as an auxiliary body), which is formed by it to ensure the exercise of its powers.

As for consultative-advisory bodies under the President of Ukraine, efforts at the normative level to regulate their status were made in the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated May 3, 2006 No. 340/2006 “On some issues of regulating the activity of consultative-advisory bodies under the President of Ukraine”. However, on the basis of Presidential Decree No. 149/2008 of February 21, 2008, it became invalid. And the draft Law of Ukraine “On the office of the President, advisory, advisory and other auxiliary bodies and services that ensure the exercise of powers by the President of Ukraine” dated September 24, 2008 No. 3215 was not adopted.

On the basis of the analysis of scientific and normative sources regarding the definition of the concept of “consultative and advisory body”, it can be stated that the features of the concept of “consultative and advisory body” proposed by legal scholars mostly coincide with the features established in the current regulatory and legal acts.The defining characteristics of the National Council as a consultative body under the President of Ukraine are as follows: it is an auxiliary body by nature of its activity; created on the basis of a separate Regulation approved by the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated April 21, 2022 No. 266/2022; the main task is to develop a plan of measures for the post-war recovery and development of Ukraine; definition and development of proposals for priority reforms, the adoption and implementation of which are necessary in the war and post-war periods; preparation of strategic initiatives, projects of regulatory and legal acts, the adoption and implementation of which are necessary for the effective work and recovery of Ukraine in the war and post-warperiods; not endowed with state-authority powers; does not have the right to issue normative-legal acts on its own behalf, but is authorized to participate in the development of draft normative-legal acts regarding the recovery of Ukraine from the consequences of the war and to submit to the President of Ukraine the relevant recommendations and proposals developed based on the results of its work.

It is worth paying attention to the binding nature of the provisions of the Plan for the Reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, adopted by the consultative and advisory body under the President of Ukraine. Clause 11 of the Regulations on the National Council states that “the Council shall make decisions on matters within its jurisdiction”. But such decisions of the advisory body are not binding for anyone. But such decisions of the advisory body are not binding for anyone. If necessary, the decisions of the Council can be implemented by issuing acts of the President ofUkraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in accordance with the established procedure, and introducing relevant draft laws for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. But the main purpose of the National Council under the President of Ukraine, as we have already noted, is to submit to the President of Ukraine appropriate recommendations and proposals regarding priority reforms developed based on the results of its work, the adoption and implementation of which are necessary in the war and post-war periods; including the preparation of strategic initiatives, projects of normative and legal acts. And the President of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine can respectively issue Decrees and Resolutions only on matters defined forthem by the Constitution of Ukraine.

Conclusions. In the conditions of the martial law regime and the deficit of budget funds, the creation of additional consultative and advisory bodies in general, not authorized to make universally binding decisions, and in particular the National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine from the Consequences of the War as aconsultative and advisory body under the President of Ukraine, seems quite problematic. After all, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as the highest body of executive power in Ukraine and the system of executive power bodies in general, according to the Constitution of Ukraine and the Laws of Ukraine, has sufficient powers to ensure the adoption and implementation of the necessary regulatory and legal acts on post-war reconstruction and development of Ukraine.

Key words: National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine from the Consequences of the War, consultative and advisory body under the President of Ukraine, Plan for the Recovery of Ukraine after the War, martial law regime, system of executive authorities.