Posted on 03/23/2014 11:43:14 AM PDT by annalex
Venice, 21 March 2014
Opinion no. 762 / 2014
OPINION
ON “WHETHER THE DECISION TAKEN
BY THE SUPREME COUNCIL
OF THE AUTONOMOUS REPUBLIC OF CRIMEA IN UKRAINE
TO ORGANISE A REFERENDUM
ON BECOMING A CONSTITUENT TERRITORY
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
OR RESTORING CRIMEA’S 1992 CONSTITUTION IS COMPATIBLE
WITH CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES”
adopted by the Venice Commission
at its 98th
Plenary Session
(Venice, 21-22 March 2014)
on the basis of comments by
Mr Peter PACZOLAY (Honorary President, Hungary)
Ms Hanna SUCHOCKA (Member, Poland)
Mr Evgeni TANCHEV (Member, Bulgaria)
Mr Kaarlo TUORI (Member, Finland)
[...]
V. Conclusions
27. The Constitution of Ukraine like other constitutions of Council of Europe member states, provides for the indivisibility of the country and does not allow the holding of any local referendum on secession from Ukraine. This results in particular from Articles 1, 2, 73 and 157 of the Constitution. These provisions in conjunction with Chapter X of the Constitution show that this prohibition also applies to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Constitution of Crimea does not allow the Supreme Soviet of Crimea to call such a referendum. Only a consultative referendum on increased autonomy could be permissible under the Ukrainian Constitution.
28. Moreover, circumstances in Crimea did not allow the holding of a referendum in line with European democratic standards. Any referendum on the status of a territory should have been preceded by serious negotiations among all stakeholders. Such negotiations did not take place.
16.. The provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine pertinent for this opinion are part of the initial text of the Constitution adopted in 1996 and were never amended. The question whether the constitutional amendments adopted in 2004 are part of the Constitution or not is therefore not relevant for this opinion.
Exigent circumstances.
If the authority of the state is illegitimate, its laws and decisions are not binding on its citizens.
And in fact Kiev faces a crisis of legitimacy and this was the reason behind the Crimean decision to secede from Ukraine.
What “crisis of legitimacy”? The Rada is there, there is an interim president.
But that is beside the point. Governments may change, but constitutions are above that.
It is very true, — as the posters here never tire to comment, — that what some commission decides is not the facts on the ground. However, to those who would like to know not only the military facts but also legal facts: here they are. The referendum is in plain violation of any reading of the Ukrainian constitution, of the Crimean provincial constitution, and the laws of the EU.
Universal justice, like international "law", is pure progressivism. Wilson and his successor progressives have caused more harm in the last 100 years than any other false idea ever propagated by humans.
This is a conservative website.
Thanks. I appreciate it.
But that is quite ahistorical.
The borders in Europe have been subject to constant change. There is no sovereign authority with either the power or the right to fix them at a given point in time, to stand "forever".
That the borders of today will resemble the borders in 50 years is quite unlikely.
Precisely ....and Putin being the good KGB commie he is he will not stop. he NEEDS to have the Soviet Union (formerly known as Russia) to come back together
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Jackass.
Kosovo was stolen from Serbia by NATO and the attempt to legalize the theft is ongoing since 2008.
It was in violation of UN Charter, UN Sec Resolution 1244, OSCE charter.
Serbia is UN member.
Serbia is member of OSCE.
Yet, The United States of America opted to steal it.
And U.S. client states jumped to recognize stolen Serbian territory as a "independent state".
It is worth noting that South Vietnam was also once recognized by U.S. as "independent state".
For some reason U.S.A. love to support decisions of Communist strongmen. Now, it's cry me a river when Ruskies got what is historically theirs.
Show me a country who recognized Kosovo as an independent state and I will show you the country contributing to this mess.
And I am believing a claim by a hand puppet controlled by Putin’s hand puppet in an interview edited by the NeoSoviet® Empire because ...?
This has been all over the Internet for the past two weeks, you can pick your own site to red it on. Our government is supporting yet another bunch of barbarians.
Ukraine’s Constitution was completely upended in the coup....
Always when a proxy government is installed the first thing they do is attempt to write a new Constitution. Plus Ukraine’s made null and void former agreements with Russia already so what’s the purpose of this...stage posturing?
Putin’s taking over Crimea completely changed the face and behavior of how any will see International Law and as much behavior among nations. .....the “unviability of borders” just disappeared whether people like it or not.
As one stated in Brussels...”Putins moves on Crimea is a fundamental re-ordering of how life is going to be in Europe......The post-cold war ‘rules’ that began in 89’ ended in 2014.”
Perhaps they just need to feel like they’re doing something...too late unfortunately.....but “there’s no business as usual after a country has been annexed by another country..it’s a whole new ballgame!”
This is not the 20th Century...it's the 21st and even the Military Officers have stated that's a serious problem because people are believing you can operate on the World Stage as you did in the 20th Century.... the World and nations of does not operate as it did then........trade agreements, pipelines and such all interconnect nations to nations.....so Europe and Nato were completely unprepared to stop or influence what we saw with Crimea and may likely see further of....and they still do not know how to handle this situation.....there's no money anywhere for another war....and Putin knew that as well.
....and the response to Putins actions showed Europe and all others that they've been operating with a ‘false sense of security'believing that dialogue and diplomacy is all it takes....Putin just showed them otherwise...to every ones embarrassment.
When were you born? Yesterday?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.