Thursday, April 19, 2007

Latest from PACE

Latest from PACE

All sides should accept the ruling of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court, says PACE

Strasbourg, 19.04.2007 – The urgent ruling of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court in the current crisis, if delivered, should be accepted as binding by all sides, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) said in a resolution adopted today at the end of an urgent debate attended by Ukraine’s Parliamentary Speaker Oleksandr Moroz.
However, the Assembly also warned that pressure in any form on the judges of the Court was “intolerable”, and should be investigated and criminally prosecuted.

In a resolution adopted by 107 votes to 5, the parliamentarians called on Ukraine’s leaders and parliament to resolve the current crisis in a legitimate, strictly constitutional and peaceful manner, “whether that be by calling legitimate early elections, emanating from the ruling of the Constitutional Court, or by way of a negotiated compromise”.

Early elections were a “normal practice” and could be accepted as “a key building block of the political compromise”, the parliamentarians said, but only according to a legitimate procedure that allows fair campaigning and a free choice for voters.

They regretted that the government “has not complied with the formally valid decree (until proven otherwise) and has not allocated the required funding for these elections The Assembly criticised “personal rivalries and short-sighted fights for personal gain, linked to posts and positions” and said the reputations of all the political leaders in Ukraine was “tarnished”.

It called for further constitutional reform to help resolve the current crisis and said the “imperative mandate” should be abandoned. PACE President René van der Linden said he would visit Ukraine on 21 and 22 May, at the invitation of the Speaker Moroz, for high-level meetings.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

PACE recognizes the "illegalities" and just plain "wrongness" of the events which PoR, but as an institution themselves what could they do but advise to rely on an institution? You cannot expect a cop to advise you to revolt. They will hand you a handkie but no more than that.

Anonymous said...

All sides should accept the ruling of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court, says PACE

Someone forgot to tell Yuschenko that he agreed to abide by the Courts ruling... or did that undertaking not inlnclude the president dismissing judges to shore-up his position and avoid judicial review of his actions.