You're reading: Kliuyev: Yanukovych offers constitution deal to Ukrainian political forces

It is possible to conclude a constitution deal as a way to build up confidence between Ukrainian political forces, Ukrainian presidential administration head Andriy Kliuyev said.

This document may spell out essential principles of the constitution
and liabilities of the sides, the Ukrainian presidential press service
has quoted Kliuyev as saying in an interview with the European media. He
also proposed that the agreement be passed with a Verkhovna Rada
resolution.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is ready to meet the opposition
demands, which is why he supports negotiations on the constitutional
amendments and the depletion of presidential powers.

Kliuyev deemed the shift of legislative procedure disagreements to the streets impermissible.

He also pronounced the draft resolution suggested by the opposition illegal.

“It is impossible to change the constitution with a resolution of the
Verkhovna Rada. The constitution can be changed only with a law. It
takes 150 signatures to register this law. And an attempt has been made
to register the resolution. Such things cannot be done. The Venice
Commission was bluntly opposed to such illegal attempts to alter
fundamental law,” the head of the presidential administration argued.

It is possible to reinstate the 2004 constitution but the procedure
has to be legal, he stressed. The official recalled that the
constitutional model endorsed in 2004 was also incomplete and embedded a
permanent conflict between the president and prime minister.