Top Drivers of Change: Who Set the Tone for Reforms in 2024?

Key findings of the study:

1. Of the 139 reform-related regulations adopted in 2024, 64 were laws. Of these, 19 were initiated by the Cabinet of Ministers, three by the President, and 42 by MPs. Reform Index experts also flagged two anti-reform efforts in 2024: a government bill on “ethical lobbying” and a so-called “white business club” law proposed by MPs.
2. Out of 401 MPs (as of December 2024), 281 co-authored at least one reform-related bill. They shared 67 positions in the rankings, as many MPs earned the same number of points.
3. MP engagement in reform initiatives has been declining over the years. For reforms adopted in 2024, a third of MPs (34%) co-authored just one of the 42 laws, while only 19% were involved in drafting more than five passed reforms.
4. The most active co-author was independent MP Maryana Bezuhla, with 14 reform bills to her name.
5. MP rankings are based on the Reform Index scores of the laws they initiated. The average score per MP-authored bill was 2.8 (with a maximum of 11.6). Maryana Bezuhla leads with 11.6 points, followed by Pavlo Frolov from Servant of the People (11.4) and Yaroslav Yurchyshyn from Holos (10.9).
6. The top of the ranking is increasingly diverse. Among the top 20 reformers, 69% are from Servant of the People, and 19% from Holos, the faction with which Servant MPs most actively collaborated. Representatives of Dovira and independents also made the top 20.
7. In 2024, ten MPs received negative scores for the bills they initiated—all of them from Servant of the People. Four of these MPs authored only one bill during the year, and it was rated as an anti-reform measure.
8. Holos has the highest proportion of active lawmakers: 80% of its MPs were involved in drafting reforms. Servant of the People follows closely with 78%, while European Solidarity and Dovira each had 74%. However, independent MPs produced the highest-quality reforms, achieving the top average ratings.

Who initiated the most reforms?

In 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers emerged as the leading reform initiator, accounting for 79 initiatives with a combined Reform Index score of 95.13 points. The vast majority of these were resolutions regulating specific areas of public policy (see Figure 1). Two of them received a score of 0 from experts: one resolution restricted foreign aid decisions exclusively to the President, while another outlined aid procedures for businesses in the sports sector. The rest were rated positively, with 10 resolutions scoring +2 points or higher. Individual ministries and the National Bank were less active in initiating reforms (see Figure 1).

However, the core of meaningful reform lies in legislation, as laws hold the highest legal authority after the Constitution. Of the 79 initiatives from the Cabinet, 19 were laws—each of strategic importance to the country’s transformation. Only one of these government-led legislative initiatives received a negative score: the law on ethical lobbying, which failed to adequately address shadow lobbying and did not clearly distinguish between lobbying and advocacy. 

Although the government was less active in initiating reform-oriented legislation compared to previous years (see Figure 2), the quality of its proposals remains high. Five of its laws made it into the list of key reforms of 2024—those scoring +2 points or more. These include the ban on the Russian Orthodox Church, the law on individual educational trajectories, the reinstatement of medium-term budget planning at the local level, the start of customs law alignment with EU standards, and the legalization of medical cannabis.

Over the past two years, the President has also been less active in initiating reforms (see Figure 2). In 2024, he issued only one reform-oriented decree—launching the State Sanctions Register—and submitted three reform bills to Parliament. These included the ratification of the Rome Statute (scoring +4 points in the Reform Index), a law promoting the use of the English language (+3 points), and Ukraine’s accession to the Agreement establishing the International Fund for Agricultural Development (+0.5 points). For comparison, the President submitted four reform bills in 2023 and eleven in 2022.

Another form of presidential initiative is vetoing laws passed by Parliament and submitting alternative proposals. In 2024, the President exercised this power only once—in relation to a law protecting the rights of agricultural land share owners, which received a score of +0.75. 

Although the Verkhovna Rada did not emerge as the top reforming body overall in 2024, MPs led in the number of reform-oriented laws initiated—42 in total, with only one classified as an anti-reform measure (the so-called “white business club” law).

Most of the MP-initiated reforms focused on regulating the business environment and combating corruption. Eleven of the laws had a clear European integration focus (see Figure 3). 

Next, we will analyze which MPs were most active in drafting reform-oriented legislation—and which ones remained largely passive in the lawmaking process.

MPs at work

In 2024, a total of 281 out of 401 MPs became co-authors of at least one adopted reform—either individually or as part of a group. Of them, 96 MPs co-authored just one reform bill, while 119 did not participate in drafting any reform-oriented legislation at all.

Most reform-oriented bills in 2024 were submitted by groups of 10 to 19 MPs (see Figure 4). Only one reform was initiated by a single MP—the law on credit rating agencies, which aligns Ukraine with European standards in this area. It was submitted by Roksolana Pidlasa from the Servant of the People party.

Two other reforms had just two co-authors. The first, a reform of the Accounting Chamber, was jointly initiated by Roksolana Pidlasa and Pavlo Frolov. The second, a law submitted by Yulia Tymoshenko and Danylo Hetmantsev, introduces a new formula for calculating the excise tax on alcohol based on a producer’s capacity. All other reform bills had more than two co-authors. 

The law with the highest number of co-authors introduced an electronic services portal for service members and those eligible for military service. It listed 93 MPs from across all factions and independents as sponsors. However, during the vote, only 76 of them supported the bill. Ten co-authors were absent from the chamber, and five did not vote for their own initiative.

This shows that MPs actively co-authoring reform bills do not always support them during voting. For example, Serhii Minko (Dovira), who co-authored six initiatives and ranked 14th in our rating, did not vote for five of them—twice due to absence and three times despite being present in the chamber. 

Servant of the People MPs were listed as (co-)authors on all 499 bills registered in 2024—and, accordingly, on all reform laws passed that year. However, only three of the reform bills were initiated solely by Servant of the People members; the rest were co-authored with MPs from other factions. When drafting bills, Servant of the People most frequently collaborated with Restoration of Ukraine (271 joint initiatives), Holos (139), and Dovira (131). 

In terms of reform legislation specifically, the “Servants” most common co-authors were MPs from Holos, independents, and Dovira (see Figure 5).

It is likely that in the absence of the functioning mono-majority, Servant of the People MPs have increasingly had to seek support from other factions—even at the bill drafting stage. This approach likely boosts a bill’s chances of gaining broader political backing, especially given the party’s shortage of votes. As a result, the top 20 reform initiators in 2024 included not only Servant of the People MPs but also representatives from Holos and independent MPs—whereas in previous years, these leading positions were held exclusively by members of Servant of the People.

MP Rankings

In 2024, independent MP Maryana Bezuhla was the top reform initiator. She earned a total of 11.6 points and authored the highest number of reform bills—14.

Second and third place in the rankings went to Pavlo Frolov from Servant of the People (11.4 points) and Yaroslav Yurchyshyn from Holos (10.9 points), respectively. Two more Servant of the People MPs—Bohdan Kytsak (10.88) and Danylo Hetmantsev (10.5)—also surpassed the 10-point mark for their initiated legislation. 

This year, representatives of Holos made significant gains in the rankings: Nataliia Pipa earned 8.88 points and placed 7th; Yaroslav Zhelezniak scored 8.5 points, ranking 9th; Halyna Vasylchenko reached 12th place with 7.75 points; and Roman Lozynskyi came in 17th with 6.75 points. MPs from Dovira also improved their positions: Serhii Minko rose from 21st to 14th place (7.5 points), and Larysa Bilozir climbed from 46th to 19th (also 7.5 points). Holos faction leader Oleksandra Ustinova co-authored five reform bills, earning 6.13 points and securing 23rd place—up from 60th in 2023.

Due to the overall drop in MP activity, some managed to climb the rankings even with fewer reform initiatives than in previous years. For example, Yulia Tymoshenko rose from 72nd to 54th place even though the quality of her bills was higher in 2023—when they earned a combined 4 points—compared to just 1.5 points in 2024. Meanwhile, Servant of the People faction leader Davyd Arakhamia dropped from 25th to 46th place, having initiated only five reforms this year. The head of the pro-Russian Platform for Life and Peace faction did not initiate a single reform and, as a result, did not appear in this year’s ranking—unlike six of his faction colleagues, who co-authored five reform bills.

Ten MPs were classified as anti-reformers, all of them from Servant of the People. Unsurprisingly, those who authored only one bill—the anti-reform “white business club” law—ranked at the very bottom. 

Reform initiators by faction

Holos had the highest share of MPs involved in drafting reforms in 2024, with 80% of its members co-authoring at least one adopted reform bill. Servant of the People also showed strong engagement: 180 out of 231 MPs—78%—contributed to reform legislation. High levels of participation were also recorded among MPs from Dovira and European Solidarity (see Figure 6).

Although independent MPs were less involved in drafting reform bills, the quality of their initiatives was higher. Their average Reform Index score was 3.1—the highest among all parliamentary groups. Close behind were MPs from Holos, Servant of the People, and Dovira (see Figure 7). Holos also had the highest average number of reform initiatives per MP.

Who leads in reform: men or women?

Although there is no clear correlation between the number of women in a faction and its overall reform activity (see Figure 8), at the parliamentary level, female MPs were more active in initiating reforms than their male counterparts.

In 2024, 76 out of 84 women in Parliament were included in the reformer rankings—meaning 90% of female MPs contributed to reform legislation. The most active women reformers came from Dovira, Servant of the People, and among independents (see Figure 9). By contrast, only 65% of male MPs—215 out of 316—were involved in initiating reforms in 2024. On average, Holos had the highest number of reform initiatives per MP. 

In 2024, women made up 40% of the top 20 reformers—nearly half of all female MPs who initiated reform laws. This indicates that female MPs tend to initiate higher-quality reforms than their male counterparts.

Among active female MPs, 77% co-authored two or more reform bills, and Maryana Bezuhla set the record this year for the highest number of reforms initiated. The average Reform Index score for female MPs was 2.9 points, compared to 2.5 for male MPs. The highest-scoring man was Pavlo Frolov from Servant of the People, while the lowest scores also belonged to four of his fellow party members. 

Conclusion

Recent legislative activity shifts suggest that the mono-majority era is effectively over. Servant of the People can no longer pass laws on its own and must now seek support from other factions. While its members are listed as co-authors on all bills, they initiated only three reforms independently. Meanwhile, MPs from Holos, Dovira, and the group of independents have become more active, initiating most of the highest-quality reforms. This marks a growing trend toward cross-faction collaboration as lawmakers increasingly join forces to drive change.