04 July 2012, 10:45
Adam Martyniuk: Local self-government should receive a guaranteed right to power
"All political powers stand united in regard to amendments to the Constitution they should pertain to local self-government and distribution of power at the local level," claimed the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Adam Martyniuk in "The Key Point" program on the First National TV Channel.
"Under the active Constitution, we have dual power at the local level, as there are councils - representative bodies elected by the communities, - and, at the same time, there are regional state administrations that, in their essence, have more powers than the councils, and therefore have broader possibilities, as they have administrative and financial resources," explained A. Martyniuk.
"The solution might be to eliminate such body as district state administrations and elect the councils that would form executive committees to perform the functions of district state administrations," said the politician. He believes that "if we keep regional state administrations, we should keep them at the same level as prefects in France. That is, the governing function should be performed by the regional council and its executive committee," and the authorized representative of the President should be the guarantee of observance of rights and freedoms at the local level.
Answering the question whether the Constitutional Assembly is going to consider the distribution of powers between the branches of power and whether we should expect the change in the form of government in the country, A. Martyniuk said: "I believe, there is no one person in the country now that would know what the work of the Constitutional Assembly will result in, that is, what proposals they will make. We could judge by the speech of the President at the first meeting of this advisory body. He did not raise the issue of the system of government. We have tried different forms over the 20 years. So far, we cannot clearly state that we will keep to the existing presidential-parliamentary form or return to the previous parliamentary-presidential one, or use some other models instead. This is the problem of our social system and the problem of constitutional changes. We are looking for something new or return to something old all the time. And it is necessary to live in a stable system for at least two-three decades. Nevertheless, A. Martyniuk stressed that "no matter how good the Constitution we write is, no matter whom we take as a model, our principal problem is that we do not observe this Fundamental Law on the one hand, and, on the other hand, everyone is free to interpret its provisions as it suits them, sometimes even with the help of the Constitutional Court."
Commenting on observance of social rights, A. Martyniuk stressed: "The problem here lies in the fact that there are rights but there are no possibilities and no financial support for their observance. This causes contradictions. When we talk about the rights and freedoms of citizens, they are quite good, but there are no mechanisms for their realization. No matter how good the rights are, it is necessary to develop economy. Without financial provision these rights will remain on paper only."
Touching upon the work of the Constitutional Assembly, A. Martyniuk said that this is the place where all political powers have a possibility to discuss the most acute problems. Nevertheless, he was surprised that representatives of opposition refused to participate in this advisory body.
Answering the question who will adopt the new version of the Fundamental Law, A. Martyniuk explained: "There are precise rules determined by chapter XIII of the Constitution. If the text is amended and it cannot be amended constitutionally without the Verkhovna Rada, - and if there are no amendments to Chapter One "General Principles", Chapter Three "Elections. Referendum" and Chapter Thirteen "Amending the Constitution of Ukraine", the amendments shall be approved by 226 votes at one session, and by at least 300 votes at the next one. If amendments are made to chapters I, III and XIII, 300 votes are necessary at the beginning, and after adoption at the session the amendments shall be put to a nation-wide referendum. That is, after the Verkhovna Rada takes its decision, it is necessary to hold a referendum. If it confirms the decision of the Verkhovna Rada, it will become final, and if not, the amendments to the Constitution will not be made. Sometimes some people make haste and say that it is necessary to hold a referendum before making amendments. The Constitution allows that. However, if the referendum is held before that, it will have advisory character only."