President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has approved the Regulations on the Presidential Office of Ukraine.
This is enshrined in decree No. 436/2019 of June 25. The document comes into force from the date of publication.
According to the Regulation, the Presidential Office is a permanent subsidiary body formed by the head of state in accordance with Paragraph, 28 Part 1 of Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
The tasks of the Office include the implementation of expert analysis of political, economic, social, humanitarian and other processes taking place in Ukraine and in the world, preparation of its results for submission to the President of proposals for domestic and foreign policy; participation in the processing of proposals regarding the implementation by the President of leadership in the areas of national security and defense of Ukraine, his fulfillment of the powers of the chairman of the Council of National Security and Defense of Ukraine, monitoring the security and defense sector; the examination of the laws passed by the Verkhovna Rada, received by the head of state for signature, the preparation of proposals on the signing of laws or the use of the right of veto, etc.
The Presidential Office ensures, in the established manner, the interaction of the President with the Verkhovna Rada, the Cabinet of Ministers, law enforcement, other state bodies, local governments, associations of citizens (including political parties, trade unions), enterprises, institutions, organizations, and contributes to the effectiveness of this interaction.
Among the tasks are the preparation of drafts of constitutional motions, appeals of the President to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and proposals regarding the position of the President in matters considered by the Constitutional Court; ensuring the consideration of requests of deputies, groups of deputies and committees of the Verkhovna Rada to the President.
The Office has the power to request and receive information, documents and materials from government bodies and local government agencies, businesses, institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership and from their officials. It may engage researches and experts, and employees of central and regional executive bodies to perform works and missions and to participate in studying specific matters, including on a contractual basis.
The Office has the following staff in its structure: the head of the Office and their first deputy and deputies; the head of the Presidential Office secretariat; the first presidential aide and other presidential aides, presidential advisors, the presidential press secretary, and presidential envoys and representatives. In addition, the Office includes the president’s chancellery, the chancellery of the Presidential Office head, and several directorates and departments.
As reported earlier, Zelensky set up the Presidential Office by way of reorganizing and cutting the number of employees at the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.
Zelensky has appointed Andriy Bohdan as the chief of the Presidential Office. Zelensky issued another decree to dismiss him as the Presidential Administration head.
First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Serhiy Trofymov, Deputy Heads of the Presidential Administration Oleksiy Honcharuk, Yuriy Kostiuk, Vadym Prystaiko, Ruslan Riaboshapka, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, and Oleksiy Dneprov were appointed to similar positions in the Presidential Office.
Zelensky has repeatedly revealed plans to move from the existing Presidential Administration building on Kyiv’s Bankova Street to a new office.
