Ukrainian parliament to adopt constitutional amendments in weeks to come — Poroshenko

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko

KIEV, June 11 /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) should adopt constitutional amendments in the next few weeks, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in his speech in Mariupol, the government-controlled area of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, on Thursday.

"We are not ruling out that in the next few weeks we may vote for constitutional amendments in the first reading. The draft, which has been prepared by the constitutional commission, will oblige the president and the government in Kiev to sacrifice a considerable part of their powers in favour of territorial communities," Poroshenko said.

"People should be able to exercise a lion’s share of their powers in their native cities. But, the questions of foreign policy, defense, the state’s integrity and the status of a unitary state will also be the key elements of our constitution - and no federalization. No more republics will be allowed;" Poroshenko explained.

The constitutional reform and decentralization of power are one of the points of a peace agreement signed in Minsk on February 12.

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