You're reading: Lutsenko says third stage of constitutional amendments to deal with president-government-parliament relations

Amendments to the Ukrainian constitution will be made at three stages, the last of them concerning relations between the president, the Cabinet of ministers, and the Verkhovna Rada, says Yuriy Lutsenko, the leader of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction.

‘At the present time, amendments to the constitution will be made at three stages. Three strategic working groups have been set up and are working. The first one is amending the local self-government system. The second deals with a judiciary reform, the groundwork on which has almost been laid, without which we can’t change anything. The third concerns the changing of relations within the president-government-parliament triangle. This all taken together will make up a new constitution and a new social contract,’ the Petro Poroshenko Bloc press service quoted Lutsenko as saying.

During the Maidan events, the Ukrainian people spoke against the current version of the constitution as a social contract, and the Maidan activists demanded that the governance system be changed, Lutsenko said, adding that the Constitutional Assembly is an ideal way for Ukraine to have a new constitution.