MPs register bill proposing to extend law on special status for Donbas for one more year

Ukrainian MPs have registered a bill proposing that the Verkhovna Rada extend the effect of the law on a special order of local self-governance in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions until December 31, 2020.

This is stated in the text of the bill, which was published on the parliament's website on December 11. The bill was registered by Davyd Arakhamia, the head of the Servant of the People faction, and his first deputy, Oleksandr Korniienko, on December 10.

"Pursuant to this law, temporarily, from the date of its entry into force, taking into account the provisions of the law of Ukraine 'On the creation of the necessary conditions for the peaceful settlement of the situation in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions,' a special order of local self-governance is introduced until December 31, 2020, in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which include districts, cities, towns and villages that are determined by a decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions)," the document reads.

Thus, it is proposed to extend the validity of the law on a special status for Donbas for one more year.

The law on a special order of local self-governance in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions was adopted in September 2014 and came into force on October 18, 2014, for a period of three years. It expires on December 31, 2019.

On December 9, Paris hosted a meeting of the leaders of the Normandy Four countries - Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Zelensky told Ukrainian journalists after the meeting that he considered it optimal to extend the law on the peculiarities of local self-governance in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for one year and then to incorporate the so-called "Steinmeier formula" into the document.

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