22 February 2011, 13:02
Mykola Tomenko: The Decree on Establishment of the Constitutional Assembly is an Attempt to attract New Members into the Team in Power, not amend the Constitution
In the interview to the Delo newspaper, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, declared that the Decree on establishment of the Constitutional Assembly is an attempt to attract new members into the team in power, not amend the Constitution. He commented on the Decree of the President of Ukraine concerning support of the formation of the Constitutional Assembly.
The Deputy Chairman believes that the team of Viktor Yanukovych obviously tries to establish cooperation with new politicians who had not supported Viktor Yanukovych during the election campaign.
However, as regards the amendments to the Constitution, M. Tomenko is convinced that the appeals of Viktor Yanukovych and Leonid Kravchuk prove the lack of understanding of the constitutional amendments strategy. "Moreover, the claim that the parliament will adopt the amendments in the year 2012 means that actual constitutional amendments are postponed till 2013", the Deputy Chairman added. According to him, the parliament of a new convocation to be elected in autumn 2012 will obviously start working in 2013.
"Thus, the Decree of the President of Ukraine concerning support of the formation of the Constitutional Assembly and appointment of Leonid Kravchuk should be considered as an attempt to attract new members to the team of Viktor Yanukovych, not the attempt to introduce the constitutional amendments or new Constitution", the Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine admitted.