Constitutional Court says parliament can set session to adopt bill on amendments to Constitution

The Ukrainian parliament alone is empowered to set the next regular session to adopt a bill introducing amendments to Ukraine's Constitution, the court ruled. Ukrainian MPs appealed to the Constitutional Court as there were not enough votes to support the presidential bill amending Ukraine's Constitution as regards decentralization. These constitutional amendments are foreseen by the Minsk agreements. After the appeal was filed, Ukraine's Rada adopted a bill amending the parliamentary regulation on the order of the preliminary approval and adoption of the bill on constitutional changes. The regulation now contains the following provision: "If the bill amending the Constitution was preliminary approved by the Verkhovna Rada and wasn't considered on the next regular session after the preliminary approval, then this bill should be considered by the Verkhovna Rada on the following regular session."