European Rights Body Critical Of Ukraine's Constitution, Warns Democracy Not Safeguarded

STRASBOURG, France -- European lawmakers on Thursday criticized Ukraine for what they said was a failure to carry out substantial legal and administrative reforms since President Viktor Yushchenko's rise to power three years ago.


They also said that the country's hastily adopted new constitution does not safeguard democracy.

Parliamentarians from the Council of Europe's 46 member states said the escalating political crisis in Ukraine is a direct result of insufficient constitutional reforms introduced in 2004, which they said did not fully define the competencies of the president, government and parliament.

"The political reforms that would set the rules of the game and enable law-based institutions to ... promote political competition have not been completed to date," the council's parliamentary assembly said in a resolution, after a heated debate in which both Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and President Viktor Yushchenko were criticized.

Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz told journalists before the debate that his country would resolve the crisis "by our own means," without involvement from abroad.

Yushchenko issued a controversial decree April 2 to dissolve parliament and call early elections, accusing Yanukovych of trying to usurp power. Yanukovych and his majority in parliament called it unconstitutional and appealed to the Constitutional Court to weigh in.

Both Yushchenko and Yanukovych have agreed to abide by whatever the court rules.

Yushchenko signed the dissolution decree after 11 lawmakers left pro-presidential factions to join Yanukovych's parliamentary majority, bringing him closer to the 300-seat majority necessary to override presidential vetoes.

Yushchenko called it a revision of voters' will from last year's parliamentary election, which saw Yanukovych's party come out ahead but fail to get a majority on its own.

But European lawmakers warned that Ukraine's constitution does not clearly define how and when early elections should be carried out.

"National constitutions usually contain clear provisions, a package of rules, describing how early elections can be conducted. Ukraine does not have that," Danish Liberal deputy Hanne Severinsen said.

"If there are to be early elections in Ukraine there should also be legislation to secure they are fair and free," she said.

The standoff has plunged the ex-Soviet republic into its worst political crisis since the 2004 protests that propelled Yushchenko to power and became known as the Orange Revolution.

The EU has expressed concern over the crisis and appealed to Ukrainian leaders to resolve it by legal means.

Source: Kyiv Post