Hearings of Ukraine's Constitutional Reform of 2004 Start Today

KYIV, Ukraine, September 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has begun the hearings concerning the legality of the 2004 constitutional reform, which turned the country from presidential to parliamentary-presidential republic amidst the Orange revolution. Should the reform be declared illegitimate, Ukraine will return to the original constitution of 1996 and a new balance of powers, with much stronger presidential authorities, will be established.

The main point of concern of the 252 Ukrainian MPs who initiated the hearings was that the 2004 reform was adopted in violation of important constitutional procedures. The amendments to the Constitution, adopted amidst the drastic events of the Orange revolution in December 2004, became part of the political compromise between the two rivaling camps. At the same time, these amendments were adopted in a controversial legal setting, without the approval of the Constitutional Court, which is a mandatory procedure for all constitutional amendments.

The current hearing has been accompanied by much controversy in the Ukrainian political circles from the moment it was initiated. The opposition parties, including Yuliya Tymoshenko's bloc, Our Ukraine and others, have accused Viktor Yanukovych of an attempt to unjustifiably increase his constitutional powers. Notably, as the representatives of the ruling coalition point out, the constitutional hearings were first initiated by Mrs. Yulia Tymoshenko herself back in March 2007. They failed to go ahead at that time, however, since the Constitutional Court had not been provided with the necessary documentation.

The Constitution adopted in June 1996 established a strong Presidential form of government. Having been drafted from 1991 till 1996, it was commended by the European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission.

The adoption of the constitutional amendments in 2004 solved a deep political crisis and was welcomed by a number of EU countries, most of which had traditionally been Parliamentary forms of government themselves. However, during the period when the amendments were in force Ukraine has lived through one of the most tumultuous times in its political history. In the new balance of powers Yulia Tymoshenko and Viktor Yanukovych while being Prime Ministers were unable to effectively divide the authorities with the President Yushchenko, causing a lot of controversy in Ukraine's political environment.

SOURCE Office of the President of Ukraine