Venice Commission backs Poroshenko's bill on constitutional reform

A bill proposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko amending the Ukrainian constitution, has been approved by the Venice Commission.

The relevant conclusions were announced on Monday.

The Venice Commission said that it does not object to the partial transfer of powers from parliament to president.

It also said that the proposed principle of decentralization of power takes into account the Council of Europe's principle of subsidiarity.

The new terms, such as "real authority of local government bodies and sustainable development of the administrative-territorial entities," laid down in the bill, constitute a reasonable foundation for decentralization of power, which is welcome, the Venice Commission said.

Another positive initiative is that the right to control the state budget and taxes remains with the local community. Reforms can help shape effective bodies of local self-government compliant with the European Charter of Local Self Government, it said.

The definition of local self-government, proposed by Poroshenko, coincides with the principles laid down in the European Charter, it said.

Concerning interaction between parliament and president, the Venice Commission said that the proposed presidential right to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada if no parliamentary coalition is formed within 30 days does not arouse objections. However, the Venice Commission earlier expressed doubts about the need to formalize the term "parliamentary faction," whose non-formation provides the possibility of dissolving the parliament.

The Venice Commission welcomes the fact that the Prosecutor General's Office was deprived of the general oversight function.

However, the proposed presidential right to dismiss prosecutor general and the heads of the National Security Service and State Investigations Bureau without the Verkhovna Rada's consent received a negative assessment.

The parliament should be deprived of the right to pass the vote of no confidence on the prosecutor general, the Venice Commission said.

Poroshenko on June 26 registered a bill amending the constitution. On July 3, the Verkhovna Rada started debates constitutional amendments and entered Poroshenko's bill on the agenda.

Source: Interfax-Ukraine