Constitution should allow for special status of Donbas to be decided – CE Secretary General

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland has stated that Ukraine should provide for the special status of Donbas.

Jagland said this in an interview with Deutsche Welle on Thursday.

"As of now, when the Constitutional Commission has prepared the relevant amendments to the Fundamental Law of Ukraine and sent them to the Verkhovna Rada, we may say that the way to decentralization is paved. The experts of the Venice Commission earlier said that if Ukraine wants to carry out decentralization, this should be stipulated in the Constitution. I hope that the Verkhovna Rada will adopt these amendments," Jagland said.

According to the Secretary General, the Council of Europe highly appreciates the fact that the Ukrainian side has taken the advice of the Venice Commission into account.

Jagland also said that the local elections in the self-proclaimed "LPR" and "DPR" must be held in compliance with the Ukrainian legislation.

"We are not a party to the Minsk agreements. We may only advise Ukraine what should be amended the Constitution in order to implement the agreements, reached during the second meeting in Minsk. This, in particular, refers to the provision on special status of Donbas," Jagland noted.

According to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in order to fully implement the Minsk agreements, "it is necessary to stipulate this in the Constitution, then the Verkhovna Rada will be able to adopt a special law that would grant special status to Donbas."