Strasbourg – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is going to vote for Ukraine to be a strong unitary state and against its federalization.
“The Assembly strongly objects to any notion of a federalization of
Ukraine, as this would substantially weaken the unity and stability of
the country,” reads a draft resolution “Recent developments in Ukraine:
threats to the functioning of democratic institutions”, which was
prepared by the Monitoring Committee and will be filed for consideration
at the Assembly’s plenary session on Wednesday.
The document contains the recommendations for the Kyiv authorities to
develop a comprehensive and inclusive strategy to strengthen local and
regional authorities and to decentralize government.
“Such a decentralization strategy should be based on the principles
of a strong unitary state with an effective system of central governance
with delegated responsibilities and powers to the regions,” the
document said.
According to the Assembly, the recent events have increased the
east-west divide in the country and led to unease among the population
of both parts of the country. “In the view of the Assembly, the divide
is mostly of political origin, despite the clear historical and cultural
differences between the east and the west of Ukraine,” the draft
resolution said.
