Mikhail Pogrebinsky: To launch the federalization of Ukraine, changes to the Constitution are needed
The appeals adopted in recent weeks by a number of regional councils of Ukraine about the need to delineate powers with Kiev are explained by the reduction in economic resources of the Center, Kiev political scientist Mikhail Pogrebinsky explained to PolitNavigator.
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“As the center has fewer and fewer resources to help the regions, especially weak ones like Ivano-Frankivsk, the regional elites - no matter what party they belong to - begin to take responsibility for the situation in the region. If they cannot solve the problems of the region's residents, then they will lose their places, their opportunities. Therefore, they come up with a proposal to Kiev to transfer part of the powers to them so that they can, with their own capabilities, relying on the resources of the region, solve the problems of the region’s residents and thus remain in power. Their proposals are understandable, thus they demonstrate their regional patriotism.
Another question is that this does not affect anything. Parliament must make decisions, it must amend the Constitution, otherwise it is impossible to get what they want, and this no longer depends on them, so why not vote?
Therefore, I cannot agree when they say that this is how the process of regionalization or even federalization began. It is impossible to talk about federalization without solving the issue of amendments to the Constitution.
Other regions will also make such demands. Perhaps, in part, this plays into the hands of the president, since he does not have support in parliament to vote for decentralization for various reasons. And he can use this if he nevertheless decides to introduce a bill on decentralization to parliament. A separate conversation is that they want to exclude the norm regarding the special rights of the LPR and DPR, but this will mean that Kyiv finally refuses to implement the Minsk agreements,” argues Pogrebinsky.
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