Ukraine's commitments to the Council of Europe will be met this year, President Viktor Yanukovych has said.
"As for the changes in the law related to our commitments to the Council of Europe, I think that we will complete this task in 2012," he told journalists in Kirovohrad on Tuesday.
Yanukovych noted that a special committee under the head of state, which is engaged in the drafting of respective bills, has been set up. He said that there remained a number of issues "related to the requirements to the Constitution."
"This issue is very complicated, and it is associated with the consensus that can be reached in the Verkhovna Rada in the form of a two-thirds majority vote…. Therefore, of course, much will depend on how the elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine go in the autumn of 2012. If the deputies find the political will after these elections, and two thirds of the deputies unite in parliament, we will be able to carry out constitutional reform, as it is related to human rights and the issues of the judicial system," Yanukovych said.
In 1995, before joining the Council of Europe, Ukraine assumed commitments to bring its legislation into line with European standards, but most of these commitments were not met in previous years.
