Ukrainian Civil Assembly stands for constituent assembly for new constitution

Kyiv, March 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Civil Assembly of Ukraine is initiating a meeting of the Civil Constituent Assembly, Co-Chairman of the Civil Assembly of Ukraine and President of the NGO Ukrainian Strategy Anatoliy Pinchuk said at a press conference at the Interfax news agency on Tuesday.

According to him, this decision was taken at the fourth forum of the Civil Assembly of Ukraine, which was held in Kyiv on March 22.

Pinchuk said the Constituent Assembly, the creation of which is foreseen by an order of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, can be considered only as consultative body for the president, or rather a place for the discussion of the concepts of constitutional reform.

The forum of the Civil Assembly called on the Constituent Assembly to recommend that the president initiate amendments to the main law, which is to stipulate a meeting of the constituent assembly for drafting and adopting the new version of the Constitution, according to which delegates will not have the right to be elected in any state bodies for ten years.

"In order to demonstrate how the constituent process should be held, we're initiating a meeting of the Civil Constituent Assembly, which should unify civil initiatives to reform the Constitution. We're appealing to all public organizations, networks, analytical centers and experts, and all public activists, and all who want to live in Ukraine, a civil republic, to welcome us!" a statement of fourth forum of the Civil Assembly read.

The representatives of about 400 public organizations took part in the forum.