07/16/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The Parliament adopted the amendments to the Constitution in the first reading

Ambassador to Ukraine Pyatt and US State Dept. spokesman Nuland in the Verkhovna Rada

07.16.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• The Parliament adopted the amendments to the Constitution in the first reading.
• MPs voted for the laws necessary to obtain the  international financial assistance.
• President Poroshenko is confident of the continuation of the Russian aggression.
• Owners of mobile coffee salespoints blocked the traffic on Khreshchatyk.
• The Head of the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration promised to completely block the smuggling.

Key Events In Ukraine

• The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading and sent to the Constitutional Court the amendments to the Constitution proposed by President Poroshenko. In the main text of the document appeared a reference to the special status of certain areas of the Donbass, which Putin demanded during the meeting with Poroshenko in Minsk. The prefects (representatives of the President) are granted the authority to oversee the implementation of laws taken away from the Prosecutor's Office .
  Deputies adopted a number of laws, which the government considers necessary to obtain a foreign financial assistance for the amount of more than $ 3 billion. In particular, the adopted laws allow debtors to dispose of the property in favor of "Naftogaz"; improve the system of guaranteeing of private deposits and regulate the removal from the market of insolvent banks; they also include the law on the formation of utility tariffs and bringing them to the economically justified level; on increasing of the effectiveness of the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
  The funding of political parties from the budget except for the participation in the elections, starting from 2017 was approved in the first reading .
• Deputy  General Prosecutor Sakvarelidze said that, in accordance with the law on the  Prosecutor's Office reform, the number of prosecutors will be reduced by 3 thousand; Prosecutor Offices will be enlarged and reorganized, and due to this it will be possible to raise the wages of the institution staff.
• “Privat” Group sued the "Naftogaz" in the London court for the auction violation of the agreement by the owners of the "Ukrnafta". The head of "Naftogaz" Kobolev said that he can not give any comment regarding that until the company lawyers studies the claim. The candidacy of the British citizen was offered for the post of the "Ukrnafta" Head of Board by the enterprises related to "Privat".
• The National Bank continues to hold the official hryvnia exchange rate at the level of 21.99 UAH/USD (-0.12 UAH), 23.89 UAH/EUR (-0,44 UAH), 3.86 UAH/RUR 10 (-0.04 UAH) .

War

• The situation in the Donbass remains tense but stable, as a result of shellings 11 soldiers were wounded. Intense fighting continues in the surroundings of Donetsk. According to the observers, Russian troops and militant units conduct active subversive activities in tactical and operational-tactical rear of the Ukrainian army.
  The next Russian convoy invaded the territory of Ukraine, the border guards had no opportunity to check its contents. Ukrainian member of the joint center for control and coordination of the ceasefire Taran stated that the OSCE mission is ignoring the requirements on conducting of checks in the militants machinery locations.
  President Poroshenko said that, according to the intelligence reports, Russia is ready to launch a new offensive.
• The "Black Tulip" search group, searching  for  dead Ukrainian  soldiers, suspended its activities in the combat zone due to the lack of funds. Volunteers complain of the lack of public funding, the reluctance of the authorities to help and refusal to grant them the status of combatants.
• the MFA of Ukraine, based on the results of the SSU investigation, declared the Acting Consul General of Russia in Odessa a persona non grata and banished him from the country.

Ukraine and the World

• The deputies of the Verkhovna Rada asked the UN to establish an international tribunal to investigate the  Malaysian airlines flight MH-17 disaster.
  The SSU claims that the investigators know all the information about the defense complex from where the rocket was launched.
  Russian President Putin opposed the establishment of the tribunal. President Poroshenko announced about the predictable reaction of the Russian Federation on the establishment of the tribunal.
  British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Hammond considers the hindering of the establishment of the tribunal for the delivery of justice inexcusable.
  US Secretary of State Kerry confirms the version of the Netherlands investigation that the plane in the sky over the Donbas was shot down by a "surface to air" missile launched from the "BUK" defense complex from the territory controlled by the militants.
• Greek Finance Ministry informed that the country's banks will be closed until July 20.

The Trends

• Vox Ukraine experts believe that changes to the Constitution, voted by the Parliament, formalise the powers of prefects, who are the representatives of the President, to block the activities of the local self-government. There are potential conflicts in the mechanism of control over the President's decision to dissolve the local councils, associated with the dependence of the courts on the President's power. There remains a conflict of interests between the President and the Cabinet in terms of control over the activities of the prefects. Planned changes eliminate the possibility for the Parliament to influence the activities of prefects and local authorities.
  Experts consider that it is necessary to define which final model of power Ukraine is building - presidential like in the United States, where the President is the Head of Government or parliamentary, as in Germany or Israel, where the President has only representative functions.