Parliament should draft bill of constitutional amendments, court decision can be repealed – Shapoval
Kyiv, February 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada should deal with the drafting of amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine or a new wording of the basic law, Former Chairman of the Central Election Commission Volodymyr Shapoval (2007-2013) has said.
"I'm confident that the main work on the drafting of a bill on the introduction of amendments to the Constitution or a new wording of the Constitution… should be conducted in parliament, because only parliament is empowered to amend the Constitution," he said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Wednesday.
He said that one way to introduce amendments and return to the 2004 Constitution is the repeal by the Constitutional Court of its own decision. Shapoval described this as the most legally correct option.
"The most legal option is the adoption by the Constitutional Court, in line with Article 68 of the law on the Constitutional Court, of its own decision, that is the court itself corrects the harm that it caused," he said.
He said this would be the right decision for many reasons: "I do not accept claims that the Constitutional Court cannot revise its decision. This is absolutely wrong. Article 68th foresees the opening of new proceedings."
He said that the Constitutional Court should amend its two decisions, not only the well-known decision taken in 2010, but also one that was adopted in 2008, through which the court made it possible for itself to check for compliance with the Constitution any laws amending the basic law.
In general, he said, the need to amend the Constitution is long overdue and the reform of 2004 was inappropriate in the legal sense. Shapoval said that when changing the Constitution, it would be necessary to take into account the expectations of the people, and in particular, a return to the 2004 Constitution.
Shapoval also named other methods for amending the Constitution, among them the introduction by the Verkhovna Rada of amendments to the law on the Constitutional Court.
"One can write such a clause in the transitional provisions to this law: 'Any decision of the Constitutional Court on the official interpretation of the provisions of the Constitution... in terms of Section 4, 5 and 6 - that is any decision that concerns the organization of state power - may be withdrawn by the Verkhovna Rada on the basis of its inconsistency," he said.
Another opinion, in his opinion, is the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of the so-called constitutional act or agreement. He said it was also possible that the parliament could pass an act bringing back the previous wording of the Constitution. But this option, he said, would rather be a political declaration.