PACE takes a step back from suspending Ukraine (04/09/00)

PACE takes a step back from suspending Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted on April 4 to impose sanctions on Ukraine only in the event that it does not implement the results of its national referendum in a constitutional manner, or if changes to the Constitution are enacted illegally.

The body, which is an organization of representatives of the national Parliaments of Europe, made the decision after a panel of its Constitutional experts decided that a recent decision of Ukraine's Constitutional Court to drop two of the most controversial questions brought the Ukrainian national poll closer into line with European standards and expectations.

The decision is a watered down version of an earlier recommendation proposed by a PACE monitoring commission, which originally stated that if the national poll takes place Ukraine's membership should be suspended.

Ukraine and the Council of Europe have been at odds since the monitoring commission visited Ukraine at the behest of a number of Ukrainian national deputies and criticized the constitutionality of the referendum. The national deputies, mostly leftists or opponents of President Leonid Kuchma's policies, had requested that the European body review the legality of the referendum.

Controversy has enveloped the referendum from the day the president signed an executive order scheduling it for April 16. Although officially the referendum is said to be a result of a popular initiative begun in the Zhytomyr Oblast, many political experts believe that it was a result of a concerted effort by the presidential administration and persons close to President Kuchma to secure for him additional executive powers.

In its resolution PACE criticizes changes as proposed in the Ukrainian referendum, which it says could disproportionately shift the balance of power between the executive and the legislative branches of government. It expresses doubt that a national referendum as organized in Ukraine was truly the result of a "peoples' initiative," and urges the president to delay the referendum until a new law on referendum procedures is passed. Ukraine's current law was passed prior to the 1996 Constitution and thus does not support provisions of the country's fundamental law.

The diluted threat by PACE comes after extensive negotiations and consultations with members of the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to PACE who were seeking a compromise decision. Over strong dissent from Ukrainian National Deputy Serhii Holovatyi, a vocal critic of President Kuchma who has maintained that no referendum can take place, the delegation convinced the monitoring commission that had visited Ukraine to reduce its recommendation for an unequivocal suspension.

The Ukrainian delegation was aided by a decision by the PACE's constitutional experts, the Venetian Commission, which ruled during its regular session on March 31-April 2 that after two critical questions were dropped the referendum was more in line with Western norms.

The day before the vote of the full body took place, PACE President Lord Russell-Johnston said he did not believe that any sanctions will be placed upon Ukraine. He explained that the ruling of Ukraine's Constitutional Court "has undoubtedly changed the political climate in Ukraine," according to RFE-RL.

On March 29 the court dismissed two of the referendum's six questions as unconstitutional: one which asked the nation for a vote of no confidence in the Verkhovna Rada and the other, a query on the right of the people to directly approve a new Constitution through a national referendum, which it said circumvents the process for constitutional change.

Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk addressed the Parliamentary Assembly prior to the April 4 vote and asked that the legislators of Europe understand that Ukraine will not make any changes demanded by the referendum results without abiding strictly to requirements in the Constitution of Ukraine and underscored that President Kuchma has said he will not make illegal amendments to the fundamental law. Mr. Tarasyuk also noted that Ukraine wants to continue its cooperation with the PACE and is moving to fulfill all the promises that it made when it joined the organization in 1995, most recently with the ban on capital punishment.

After the vote, however, Mr. Tarasyuk expressed disappointment with the result. "Unfortunately, I cannot say that the decision is the compromise that the Ukrainian delegation was seeking," he said.

Although the Verkhovna Rada, which has primary responsibility for making amendments to the Constitution, has said that it was ready to review and consider any of the questions affirmed in the referendum, lawmakers may not be able to find the needed votes to endorse constitutional amendments should they be approved on April 16.

While constitutional amendments must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the Parliament, there are only 276 deputies who belong to the parliamentary majority, which is most likely to support the changes.

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