Ukraine parliament speaker seeks constitutional amendments by October

Constitutional amendments should be approved by October 2015, Parliamentary Head Volodymyr Hroisman told EU Representative to Ukraine Jan Tombinski at a Dec. 8 meeting, as reported by the parliament’s press service. Local elections should occur first, the statement said. The amendments should take into account the conclusions of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

Zenon Zawada: The public patiently waited a half-year for the new parliamentary majority and Cabinet to emerge for reforms to begin. Now the speaker is asking for almost another year of delay on constitutional matters. Hroisman’s statement is ridiculous, in our view, reflecting just how out of touch the Poroshenko team is from Ukrainian society, as well as the global community.

The consensus among experts and economists is that radical changes need to be pursued immediately, including those that require amending the Constitution. There’s no excuse for delays, certainly not the need for local elections and certainly not to wait for feedback from the Venice Commission, which has offered more-than-enough commentary on constitutional matters. We see this statement as more evidence the president isn’t willing to conduct necessary reforms and meet the demands of the EuroMaidan protest.