The Constitutional Commission held a meeting on Friday during which it approved the draft of amendments to the Constitution concerning decentralization, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Head of the Commission, Volodymyr Groysman has said.

"I want to congratulate all members of the Constitutional Commission with its first decision that we made. I want to note and say that we continue working and will work on suggestions further," he said at the commission's meeting on Friday.

According to him, the basic version of decentralization-related amendments to the Constitution will be passed to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

"The final decision is made by the president, as our function is only to consult and advise," Groysman said.

Groysman said that the president would also receive special opinions and suggestions of the commission's members regarding the amendments included in the basic version. "Special opinions regarding the names, etc. we'll put in [a list of ] special opinions," he said.

Groysman also ordered technical and legal corrections to be made to the approved text of amendments so it corresponds with the conclusions of the Venice Commission.

The amendments on the decentralization of power state that Ukraine's administrative and territorial structure consists of the following units: communities, districts, regions (Article 133).

Ukraine's territory consists of communities, a few communities make up a district, and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and oblasts [regions] are Ukraine's regions.

The special statuses of Kyiv and Sevastopol in the administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine are defined by certain laws.

The procedure for creating, eliminating, establishing and changing borders, naming and renaming communities, districts, regions as well as the procedure for creating, naming and renaming populated areas and marking them as a certain type of a populated areas are defined by the law.

It's suggested that Article 133 of the Constitution should be stripped of the provision that Ukraine's administrative and territorial structure consists of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regions and districts, cities, districts in cities, towns and villages, and that Ukraine consists of Crimea, 24 regions, Kyiv and Sevastopol.

The Constitutional Commission suggested making amendments to the Constitution that will allow the president to terminate an act made by a community head, council, district or regional council, if such an act doesn't correspond with the Constitution and poses a threat to the state's sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security. It's suggested that if a community head or council, district or regional councils adopt such an act, the President should terminate the act and address the Constitutional Court. He also suspends the authority that adopted the act and appoints an acting official.

The Constitutional Commission suggests that Article 144 states that the Constitutional Court considers should hear such an address immediately.

If the Constitutional Court declares that the actions by the authority that issued an act contradict the Constitution, and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will dismiss the head of a community, community, district or regional council upon the president's request and extraordinary elections will be declared in accordance with the procedure established by the law.

The suggested draft of the amendments also foresees that the peculiarities of self-administration in some administrative and territorial units of Donetsk and Luhansk regions will be defined by the previously adopted law.

As reported, member of the Constitutional Commission Viktor Musiyaka said that the law on a special regime of local self-administration in certain districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions would be formalized in the Constitution.