Ukraine’s opposition demands to restore 2004 constitution urgently
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – February 12, 2014) Ukraine’s opposition calls their allies in Rada to act on urgent return to 2004 Constitution. The leader of the Batkivschyna parliamentary faction Arseniy Yatseniuk said on February 11 that his party has asked all its opposition partners to support with 150 signatures the text of the Constitution of 2004 so that it could be put to the vote in the Verkhovna Rada as soon as possible.
“Since the discussion has begun, now I want to officially state that the Batkivschyna faction is appealing to our opposition colleagues to collect from tomorrow 150 signatures, as required by the current Constitution, under the text of the 2004 Constitution without any additions and amendments, as the Venice Commission has demanded from us. Then we will complete, modify and improve the Ukrainian Constitution,” he said live on Channel 5 late on Monday.
He said that the Maidan is demanding this and that it must be done urgently to deprive President Viktor Yanukovych of the “dictatorial powers” granted to him by the Constitutional Court, which repealed the Constitution of 2004.
Yatseniuk also said that the opposition would be ready to assume responsibility for the economic situation in the country if it received all government posts. “We have a clear position. First, stripping the incumbent president of his dictatorial powers. Second, transferring the formation of the Cabinet of Ministers to the Verkhovna Rada. Third, the Ukrainian opposition’s receiving all responsibility for affairs in the country. This means the entire composition of the Cabinet of Ministers. What is now happening in the country requires not just efforts, but super efforts in order to prevent the country from going bankrupt economically and politically,” Yatseniuk said.
Another oppositionist, the UDAR’s leader Vitali Klitschko, agrees that the parliament must reinstate the Constitution of 2004 urgently so people can leave the streets. All the issues the parties have with the text of Constitution and with the amendments can be resolved later. As Interfax reported, Batkivschyna disagreed with presidential powers stipulated in the draft amendments to the Constitution composed by the UDAR faction. “Today the issue is going into another dimension – the dimension of a new Constitution. But today we need to resolve the issue of people standing in the street for a third month,” Klitschko said on the Freedom of Speech program on the ICTV channel.
He added that despite the amnesty law passed Maidan activists are in prison, activists are being subject to searches and police are covering titushki. “These are the key issues, which should be resolved first of all, and we start debates [on the Constitution],” he said. “Today everything is done is order to draw the discussion away, and this is directed on finding disagreements in the opposition.”
It’s for President Yanukovych to decide on the mechanism of restoring the text of the 2004 constitution, Yatseniuk said. “If this is to be done by the Constitutional Court, Yanukovych must turn to the Constitutional Court, whose judges will be obliged to decide and resume the application of the previous constitution as they did in 2010. If this is to be done by parliament, Yanukovych has more than 200 votes, and we will cast all of our votes immediately to support the constitutional act. If another mechanism can be used, let him propose it,” Yatseniuk said, cited by Interfax.
