Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk advocated holding a referendum on the adoption of a new Constitution. According to RIA Novosti, on January 24th Yatsenyuk stated that “The time has come for Ukrainian people to say what the Constitution should be in new European Ukraine. None but Ukrainians have the rights to determine the fundamental law.”

Five days prior, it was reported that a group of deputies registered in Verkhovna Rada the draft law “On the procedure for the formulation of the new project of Constitution.” According to Business Capital, the document states that the new fundamental law may be prepared and reviewed provided that the citizens support such a decision on a referendum. The draft law was initiated by the deputies of the political parties “The Block of Petro Poroshenko,” “Narodnyi Front” (People’s Front), “Samopomich” (Self-help) and “Batkivshchyna” (Fatherland), as well as Sergiy Taruta, a non-affiliated member of Parliament.

Holding the constitutional reform is one of the Provisions of the Agreements on the Settlement of the Conflict in the Donbas signed by the Normandy Four (Ukraine, Russia, Germany, France) in February of last year. According to the agreement, the key element of the fundamental law has to be the decentralization of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk on the basis of particular circumstances.

  Ukraine, Yatsenyuk, Constitutional Amendments

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