In May 2020, the Chairman of The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Dmytro Razumkov, has addressed the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe (European Commission for Democracy through Law) with a request to provide an opinion and recommendations on the draft Law on Democracy through an All-Ukrainian Referendum.
In the framework of preparation of this conclusion, experts from the Venice Commission and the OSCE (ODIHR) plan to hold a series of stakeholder consultations from 19 to 25 June 2020.
On June 24, 2020 experts will meet with deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, chairmen of profile Committees of the Verkhovna Rada and members of the working group on drafting the Law. The meeting will take place in an online format.
The following persons from the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and the OSCE (ODIHR) plan to take part in the meeting:
- Josef Maria CASTELLA ANDREU (Doctor of Law, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Barcelona. Member of the Venice Commission since 2014)
- Nikos ALIVIZATOS (Doctor of Law, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Athens. Member of the Venice Commission since 2013)
- Keara CASTALDO (Election Adviser, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)).
- Serguei KOUZNETSOV (Head of the Neighbourhood Cooperation Department of the Secretariat of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe)
- Olena LYTVYNENKO (Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine)
- Sergiy TKACHENKO (Project Manager of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine)
It should be recalled, that in April 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared the previous Law on the all-Ukrainian referendum of 2012 unconstitutional. This law was drafted in such a way that the government had the opportunity to manipulate the issue of national referendum, making not only decisions that could be beneficial to them, but also covering them up "by the will of the people." The decision of the CCU repealed this law, but the state received a serious legislative gap - because without the relevant law it is impossible to hold a referendum on any issue, including those provided by the Constitution of Ukraine.
On June 9 this year, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky introduced to the Parliament a draft Law of Ukraine "On Democracy through an All-Ukrainian Referendum", which should legislate the constitutional right of Ukrainians to a referendum. And already on June 18 it was voted by the Parliament in the 1st reading.
It is planned that the conclusions and recommendations, which will be jointly developed by experts from the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and the OSCE (ODIHR), will be approved and sent to the Ukrainian Parliament in July for finalization and preparation of the draft law for 2nd reading.
