Manual control instead of law: Zelensky blocked the signing of 44% of laws, ignoring the Constitution and using a ‘silent veto’ to pressure parliament

According to a study by the Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives for ZN.UA, during the 12th session of the 9th convocation of the Verkhovna Rada, 44% of laws were signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky beyond the constitutional deadline.

Analysts point out that although the share of such cases is not increasing, the president systematically exceeds the 15-day period allotted to either sign a bill or return it to parliament with comments. In theory, once that deadline passes, the law should automatically come into force — but in practice, this does not happen.

“This illustrates how a single legal uncertainty can paralyze the legislative process,” the experts emphasize. Currently, there is no mechanism to compel the president to sign a law passed by parliament.

A notable example is Bill No. 5655 on urban planning reform, which remains unsigned and unvetoed. Another case is the law on excise taxes, which was signed only after 3.5 months — a delay that, according to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, resulted in a loss of over 2 billion hryvnias (€44.6 million) to the state budget.

Analysts refer to this practice as a “silent veto” — a way to effectively block laws without formally rejecting them. Solving the problem would require amending the Constitution — a reform that can only realistically be pursued after the war ends.