There will be four holidays in late June. We will be celebrating the 11th anniversary of the Constitution of Ukraine as solemnly and lavishly as never before. There will be extravaganzas, concerts, and fireworks in Kyiv and other cities with a population of over a million. The beau monde will gather to see a ceremony at the National Opera. Another occasion for fireworks will be Youth Day, slated for Saturday, June 30.
Ironically, it was this year, when the political reform came into force, that each and everyone criticized the Fundamental Law, claiming that our constitution is allegedly contradictory, imperfect, and full of ambiguous provisions, and should thus be changed.
Among those who are drawing up a new constitution is the BYuT, Our Ukraine, and the People’s Self-Defense. The latter party is proposing that the right to vote be extended to people over 16 years old (instead of over 18). Other political forces have not revealed their own proposals.
It is, of course, possible or perhaps even necessary to amend the constitution. But is there a guarantee that Ukraine’s parliamentarians will like the new constitution any better than the current one? So far, our “elite” lives by deals rather than by laws. Even then it does not always observe them.
We asked The Day’s regional experts how we should mark the day celebrating a constitution that is not being upheld.
Liubomyr ZUBACH, deputy chairman of the Association of Media Lawyers of Lviv Oblast:
“In spite of the latest events, I consider Constitution Day a holiday. I am convinced that people must honor and fulfill the constitution because it is the supreme juridical act in the state. What is the content of this constitution, to what extent does it meet society’s needs, and to what extent do the authorities observe or flout it — these are different questions.
“Today, unfortunately, the Constitution of Ukraine has been discredited in the eyes of the public. Without a doubt it is politicians who bear the blame for this: they turned it into a bargaining chip in their gambles. Now we can argue endlessly about who was the first to violate the constitution. Was it parliament, which passed an utterly unconstitutional law ‘On the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine,’ or the coalition, which began ‘restructuring’ on an unconstitutional basis, or the president, who issued a juridically questionable decree dissolving parliament? Or was it the Constitutional Court, which was out of action for a long time? I don’t care what the right answer is because this is the result, not the cause.
“I think that the real factor that caused the current political crisis is the legal crisis that emerged well before this. Worldwide practice has proved that a constitution should be the most stable legal instrument of a state. In my opinion, the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine was quite an adequate document that had every right to exist. The Ukrainian legal system was only in its infancy, and it was necessary to pass a series of laws and by-laws that could duly streamline social relations. However, radical changes were made to the constitution in 2004, which broke the backbone of the legal system and wreaked havoc in the work of administrative, judicial, and law-enforcement bodies. At first, those problems were latent, but we clearly saw them in 2007.
“The only positive thing about this situation is that the constitutional ‘perturbations’ mostly affected the redistribution of powers between the different branches of government — they did not infringe fundamental human and civil rights. For example, the constitutional right to freely express one’s thoughts, views, and convictions was enshrined in both the 1996 and the 2004 constitutions. This stability of legal regulation bore fruit, and today freedom of speech is considered by far the greatest achievement in our country. Naturally, this was also caused by the change of political regime, but the importance of legal mechanisms should not be underestimated. There have been in fact many other instances when the legal resolution of certain social relations produced a positive result.
“What is to be done now? In my view, the current constitution is unlikely to become the ‘core’ of Ukraine’s legal system because people do not trust it. So we need a new agreed-upon version that would be drafted with due account of proposals from constitutional law experts. I suggest that when the new version of the Constitution of Ukraine has been passed, it should not be changed for at least 100 years — and then everything will be all right.”
Volodymyr PRYTULA, political scientist, the Crimea:
“The constitution, the fundamental law of a country that lays down basic provisions, is a self-sufficient phenomenon. It is therefore natural that if not all citizens abide by the constitution, there will be legal, political, and moral questions to the officials who flout it as well as to society as a whole. However, the provisions that are being violated in Ukraine now are just a fraction of all the standard-setting acts comprising the constitution. This document sets out not only the powers of officials but also the entire gamut of our rights and duties, the whole system of both political and civic life, the nature of the state, the country’s prospects and even administrative and territorial division. The Constitution of Ukraine is in fact the country and the state. So Constitution Day is a symbolic public holiday even if somebody takes the liberty of not fulfilling certain norms of the Fundamental Law. This will not reduce the prestige of the constitution itself nor will its importance in state building diminish. The holiday will remain as significant as it has always been.
“Naturally, the role of the current Constitution of Ukraine has been considerable changed owing to the so-called political reform that was carried out by people who were concerned with their own ambitions and well-being rather than with Ukraine. Yet, this debases not the Constitution itself but the politicians who took this step. The current legal mayhem results from this ill-conceived and incomplete political reform, which brought about diarchy and upset the balance in Ukraine.
“As one of the founders of Marxism said, the best way to mark an anniversary of the revolution is to work hard at implementing its ideals. So the best way to mark this anniversary of the Ukrainian Constitution is to work at implementing its provisions. So I do not think we should idle away during these four upcoming holidays. Politicians should work by the sweat of their brow on a new text of the future constitution, which would be free of the defects of the current Fundamental Law, and ordinary citizens should fully exercise their constitutional right to work and recreation: let them work to their heart’s content in their gardens, relax at their dachas, and feel at least temporary relief from annoying politics. Let them think over everything without haste and get down to further improving their lives on July 1 — in politics, on a factory shop floor, in an editorial office — but always to the benefit of Ukraine.”
Ihor DIDEVYCH, member of the Donetsk oblast branch of Our Ukraine:
“I think it is necessary to celebrate Constitution Day in Ukraine because the day we obtained a constitution was an epochal event in this country. Ukraine received one more symbol of its independence, in addition to the national flag and emblem.
“Yes, unfortunately, many provisions of the constitution are not being fulfilled today, but in my opinion time always heals this kind of problem. And very soon we will be looking at this differently: it seems to me that all Ukrainians without exception will have to understand in the nearest future that we have a constitution that they must uphold no matter what. And if we see that our Fundamental Law is not very effective, this means that we should all think about ways of improving it.
“I think that celebrations of Constitution Day should take the form of mass educational actions: not just mindless street extravaganzas (it’s the wrong choice in this case) but something like information days. In other words, people should not only know that we have a constitution but also consider what should be corrected in our Fundamental Law, so that nobody will flout it again.”
Yurii KODENKO, lecturer in political science, Luhansk State Institute of Culture and Arts:
“Very few countries mark anniversaries of the adoption of the state’s main legislative document in a big way. So the celebration of this date should be considered a formality, a tribute to the traditions of state building in a given country at a certain stage of its development. The holiday can entail festivities if people are well-off materially and the nation is simply relishing life in all its aspects instead of thinking about the socioeconomic situation. Some strata of the population may ignore the date when the Fundamental Law was adopted if they possess the so-called imperial mentality and look back on the setup that once prevailed on this territory. For example, the vast majority of elderly people in Luhansk oblast have never seriously accepted such Ukrainian national holidays as Constitution Day and Independence Day on the grounds that these are holidays of an ‘alien’ country. Obviously, they formed these views on the basis of the existing stereotype of thinking and heavy brainwashing, a technique still employed by the ruling national elites and ideologically unscrupulous left-wing political parties. So today Constitution Day in Ukraine can be characterized as a special holiday in a young state in which its democratic institutions are still being formed.
“In this country, the very process of adopting the nation’s basic document and making amendments to it has taken on a scandalous aura and become sort of a factor in the course of seeking compromises. By all accounts, the Fundamental Law has become an instrument of political bargaining among the powers-that-be. Remember 1996 and the night-long vigils that were held by parliamentarians: scared by Leonid Kuchma’s plans to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada, they had to pass a document with provisions that could not be fulfilled at all. This was clear to all Ukrainians at the time, but nobody seriously resisted this turn of events, and politicians considered it a temporary phenomenon. The expedient actions of parliamentarians in late 2004, which legitimized Viktor Yushchenko as president, led to amendments that to the people were disguised as changes to the political system. At the same time, many experts considered these deals as an act of reconciliation aimed at restoring peace in a tempestuous society. This is why everything that has been going on around our constitution can be characterized as irrational in terms of its nature, something that cannot be explained clearly and logically.
“I think the Ukrainians should mark this holiday without too much looking into its essence. They should see these days as an opportunity to relax in this unusually hot summer. Yes, as long as a part of the populace is looking down on this public holiday, patriotic Ukrainians get another good occasion to give their own interpretation of this process, but nothing else can be expected in the conditions of a protracted political crisis that we gave today. Dear compatriots, please go the countryside and your dachas, make ‘forays’ into seaside resorts and this country’s places of recreation, and forget this end-of-June red-letter holiday! This state of affairs is going to last for at least five years just until the time when the national elite begins to think about how to improve not only their own life but also that of the Ukrainian grassroots. Practice shows that only a new generation of politicians and those of the current ones who are aware of the harm that results from the continuing rift and differences between Ukraine’s ruling elites are capable of doing so. I sincerely believe that the plans of, say, Rinat Akhmetov about further development of this country will undoubtedly change the ‘consumerist’ mentality of the authorities, for any hindrances in this matter will just rob the latter of business opportunities. All the Ukrainians have to do is wait and... forget for some time the public holidays that were instituted through the suffering of many generations. We’ll have to remain for some time a nation of ‘nowhere men.’ This is, unfortunately, our real life!”
Yurii HAIDAI, general manager, Gaium Ukrainian Legal and Informational Company, Zhytomyr:
“On Constitution Day, 90 percent of the Ukrainians will perhaps pay no attention to the name of this holiday and will be spending the weekend as they please. The common people live a life of their own and do not expect the Constitution to be complied with. People are tired of seeing the laws flouted. And, since this tiredness has been here for quite a long time, the vast majority of them pay no attention to this and mind their own business. There is a daily routine, there are family problems, and so on. So nobody is against another day off because it is the time of farming, reaping the harvest of vegetable and fruit, etc.
“But if we were an active nation, we would be supposed to hold protest actions on this day against the current government because all the branches of power are flouting the law and making a booklet out of the Constitution.
There might have been both active and passive protests. The passive protests could have included newspaper cartoons of central and local governmental and parliamentary leaders because laws are being ignored from top to bottom, and the impunity of bureaucrats provokes betraying any principles. Being aware of the situation, people might have express their attitude to this. But the Ukrainian nation is still in its infancy, that’s why we see this passivity. The Ukrainian usually protests against unlawful actions of the central or local authorities silently and with pent-up emotions.”
Vladyslav ROMANOV, director, Prydniprovia informational and analytical agency:
“The very fact that there attempts to rewrite the Constitution shows that we cannot do without it. In the Soviet era, when there was no democracy, nobody ever looked into the Fundamental Law. The point is that the current Constitution of Ukraine was the fruit of a compromise within the mid-1990s political elite. The Orange Revolution introduced some amendments to it, which reflected the new realities. Now there are attempts again to bring it into line with the current political setup. There seems to be no end to this. The trouble is that the Constitution is adopted by a narrow circle of politicians, of people who wield power and are therefore interested in the redistribution of authority. In my view, the Fundamental Law should be adopted not by the Verkhovna Rada but by a Constitutional Assembly represented by broad societal strata. Maybe, some pivotal and highly disputable problems should be the put to a referendum, for example, the status of the Russian language or membership in military blocs. But the point is that preferences of our political elite far from always coincide with those of the majority of voters. And as long as this continues, Ukraine will be running a fever, and the Constitution will be ‘improved’ more than once.”
Mykola VASKIV, associate professor at the Department of the History of Journalism and Ukrainian Literature, Kamianets-Podilsky State University:
“The observance or non-observance of a law is in no way a testimony to its quality. As a rule, if a law is being flouted, it means that the system of its enforcement in society is imperfect or incorrect (it is interesting to see certain officials and policemen, who are supposed to combat smoking in public places, themselves smoking there, or well-oiled policemen raiding railway cars in search of those who may, God forbid, be drinking alcohol in a compartment). It was rightly said that the Soviet Constitution of 1936 was the best in the world at the time. Now it is said that the Ukrainian Constitution is one of the most progressive in Europe and, accordingly, in the world.
“It is an undeniable fact that a constitution is the fundamental law. Showing disrespect for it means showing disrespect for your state and, in the long run, for yourself, as a representative of this state. Besides, I think we are traditionally exaggerating such things as complete failure of governmental and judicial institutions, legal anarchy and nihilism. There has been such an outcry about a political crisis for several months, but this is a crisis of the government, and the absolute majority of the people do not almost feel it. The national body politic is getting more and more immune against any maladies and ‘frosts.’ At the same time, the law-enforcement system has been, to put it mildly, not so kind and fair to ordinary people in all the years of independence. There have been innumerable instances of arbitrary rule and lawlessness on the part of lawmen. But, for some reason, nobody shouted at the time that the Constitution and the laws were being flouted. It seems to me that the most important function of the Constitution is to protect every individual rather than to set out the powers of the president, the premier, the Verkhovna Rada or its speaker.
“It is quite obvious that the constitutional reform brought forth a very imperfect and contradictory Fundamental Law. But, even in this shape, it keeps the state integrated and afloat. In this case the president, i.e., the guarantor of the Constitution, has assumed this difficult and noble mission. It will be a good idea to remove legislative contradictions by way of either reverting to the 1996 Constitution or improving the existing one. But still more important is democratization of the entire public life, openness and transparency of the ruling structures. Only in this case will the laws, even the imperfect ones, be observed by everybody without exception. After all, the British live without a constitution, but nobody (except perhaps for some fossilized vestiges of the Soviet communist era) will dare say that Great Britain is a country of lawlessness and violence.
“If we celebrate Constitution Day on June 28, this does not mean that we mark only the day this Constitution was adopted. It is also the celebration of our statehood, our belonging to the democratic world, respect for the rights and freedoms of every citizen, and the hope, if not the conviction, that our state will do its utmost to protect everybody, be he or she rich or poor, an eastern or western Ukrainian, a law-abiding or law-flouting individual. The conclusion is simple: there can be no doubts about celebrating Constitution Day. For we should respect ourselves, our people, our state, language, and culture. We should also respect the law even if it is crying for improvement and, what is more, is still to be put into practice in a clear and consistent way.”
