Since March 2015 political elites of Ukraine and legal expert have been working on development of the amendments to the new Constitution of Ukraine to be presented in a little while. But will another version of the country’s fundamental law reload the system to establish a brand new set of rules for further development of Ukraine? On July 1, at 15.30 in Hotel Ukraine (4 Heaven’s Hundred Alley), Democracy Reporting International (Berlin), USAID RADA Project and the Reanimation Package of Reforms are holding the conference “Constitution Reloaded: process, first achievements of the Constitutional Commission and next steps” participated by the leading Ukrainian politicians, experts in the constitutional law, members of the Constitutional Commission.

The event will feature such high officials as Anka Feldhusen, Deputy Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Ukraine; Ambassador Vladimir Ristovski, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine;  Volodymyr Groysman, Speaker of Parliament, Head of the Constitutional Commission; Oksana Syroid, Deputy Speaker of Parliament; Oleksiy Filatov, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Secretary to the Constitutional Commission;  Viktor Musiyaka, Deputy Head of the Constitutional Commission;  Ihor Koliushko, Head of the Centre for Political and Legal Reforms, chief expert of the RPR’s constitutional group; Yuri Kliuchkovsky, representative of the working group “Decentralisation”; Volodymyr Butkevych, head of the working group “Human Rights”; Volodymyr Shapoval, PhD in law, former judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

Conference participants will discuss a number of important questions to somehow lift the veil over the mystery of constitutional process: How the independence of the Constitutional Commission from political influences is ensured? Do the Commission’s operating rules contribute to its efficiency? Is the constitutional reform process transparent? Will the Commission create new “thematic” groups or will it cease its activities after amending the Constitution with regards to the human rights, judiciary and decentralisation? How will people and society benefit from the human rights amendments? Will the judiciary be released from political influence? What is the system of powers and influences envisaged in the proposed decentralisation constitutional amendments? What are the chances to mobilise the required parliamentary majority for these changes quickly? How quickly will these changes be implemented and how will they influence further reform process? How is this effort aligned with the commitments under Minsk II?

Conference agenda is available here: Ukrainian / English

To participate please fill in a short registration form

For the registration of mass media representatives please contact: Tetyana Kyrylenko – 050 97 93 596, Andriy Andrushkiv – 096 60959 76, Alina Sviderska – 067 61 27 414

Language: Ukrainian/English (simultaneous translation)

The conference is held within the framework of the Project “Support to transparent, democratic process of reforms in Ukraine”, implemented by DRI in cooperation with the Institute of International Relations of National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. The project is funded by the German Foreign Office.