The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is going to vote for Ukraine to be a strong unitary state and against its federalization.
"The Assembly strongly objects to any notion of a federalization of Ukraine, as this would substantially weaken the unity and stability of the country," reads a draft resolution "Recent developments in Ukraine: threats to the functioning of democratic institutions", which was prepared by the Monitoring Committee and will be filed for consideration at the Assembly's plenary session on Wednesday.
The document contains the recommendations for the Kyiv authorities to develop a comprehensive and inclusive strategy to strengthen local and regional authorities and to decentralize government.
"Such a decentralization strategy should be based on the principles of a strong unitary state with an effective system of central governance with delegated responsibilities and powers to the regions," the document said.
According to the Assembly, the recent events have increased the east-west divide in the country and led to unease among the population of both parts of the country. "In the view of the Assembly, the divide is mostly of political origin, despite the clear historical and cultural differences between the east and the west of Ukraine," the draft resolution said.
