Draft law No. 12245 has gained popularity in Ukraine, which provides for changing the status of the State Audit Service of Ukraine (State Audit Service) and granting the Cabinet of Ministers the right to independently determine the salaries of its employees. The draft law was adopted as a basis by the Verkhovna Rada in December 2024 and was intended to update the provisions of the Budget Code to fulfill Ukraine's obligations to international partners. However, in the process of preparing for the second reading, amendments were made to it, which caused a wide debate among experts and the public.
The amendments concerning the State Audit Service provide for granting it a special status, introducing new ranks for civil servants, and also allow the Cabinet of Ministers to independently determine the amount of salaries of employees of this body. However, these changes provoked criticism, in particular from People's Deputy Yaroslav Zhelezniak ("The Voice"), who noted that such amendments are unconstructive and ill-conceived. He emphasized that salary increases are possible only after a real reform of the body.
"The left-wing amendments on raising the salaries of the State Audit Service are being dragged through the normal budget bill. In addition to salary increases + special status + special rank", Zheleznyak noted.
The deputy also supported the position of the anti-corruption organization Transparency International Ukraine, which called on the deputies to reject these amendments due to their fragmentation and lack of a systematic approach to the reform. According to Zheleznyak, it is important to first solve the problem of duplication of functions between the State Audit Service and the Accounting Chamber, which became especially relevant after the adoption of the law that expanded the powers of the Accounting Chamber to audit local budgets.
Zheleznyak emphasized that at the next stage, competitions for positions in the updated State Audit Service, re-certification of existing employees and introduction of modern control methods should be held. Only after that, it will be possible to talk about raising salaries and establishing special ranks.
