11:23 07.12.2019

Zelensky: Extension of Donbas 'special status' to be decided after Normandy summit; Constitution could be changed only as part of decentralization

2 min read
Zelensky: Extension of Donbas 'special status' to be decided after Normandy summit; Constitution could be changed only as part of decentralization

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky notes that the extension of the law on the special procedure for local self-government in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions will be decided depending on the outcome of a summit in the Normandy format in Paris on December 9, and amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine are possible only as part of decentralization.

Speaking during the Savik Schuster's Freedom of Speech program on TV Channel Ukraina on Friday evening, Zelensky said he was ready to amend the Constitution of Ukraine, but only within the framework of decentralization.

He also said he was "not at all afraid" if situation of 2015 repeats, when four members of the National Guard were killed in clashes outside the parliament's building in Kyiv after the bill tabled by the then-President Petro Poroshenko on decentralization-related amendments to the Constitution had passed its first reading.

Zelensky also recalled that the so-called Donbas "special status" law exists and is valid until December 31. "Whether this law should be extended and voted in the Verkhovna Rada – this is possible [to see] only after [I] return from the Normandy [summit]. If we see that there are some important steps towards each other, then we will indeed talk about this law," he said.

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