EU-brokered agreement in Ukraine; Parliament acts decisively, restoring 2004 constitution and firing Interior minister; full text of agreement (in English and German)

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Posted By: James Rowles February 21, 2014

See also:

“Yanukovych special forces and snipers deliberately murder demonstrators at the Maidan,” The Trenchant Observer, February 20, 2014.

“’F… the EU!’ — U.S. diplomat Victoria Nuland reveals—once again—the incompetence of the Obama administration,” The Trenchant Observer, February 7, 2014.

“Russian economic pressures and actions to force Ukraine not to ratify EU treaty violate international law principle of non-intervention,” November 26, 2013 (updated November 27, 2013).

In talks which began earlier in the week, the EU foreign ministers from France, Germany, and Poland succeeded last night in hammering out a breakthrough agreement in the Ukraine between the government of Viktor Yanukovych and the main opposition leaders, after bloody fighting in Kiev on Thursday which left some 75 people dead. Among those killed were the victims of special forces or snipers sent to the Maidan (Independence Square) to take deliberate aim at demonstrators and to fire to kill them. This they achieved with professional efficacy.

Foreign Ministers Laurent Fabius of Fance, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, and Radoslaw Sikorski of Poland, joined toward the end by Vladimir Putin’s special representative, Vladimir Lukin, succeeded in forging agreement between president Yanukovych and opposition leaders Vitaliy Klichko (UDAR), Oleh Tyahnibok (Svoboda), and Arsenij Yatseniuk (Batkivshchyna).

See Benjamin Bidder und Matthias Gebauer (Kiew), “Konflikt in der Ukraine: Zum Frieden gezwungen,”Der Spiegel, 21 Februar 2014 (18:34 Uhr).

The text of the agreement in English is as follows:

Final 6:45

Agreement on the Settlement of Crisis in Ukraine

Concerned with the tragic loss of life in Ukraine, seeking an immediate end
of bloodshed and determined to pave the way for a political resolution of the
crisis,

We, the signing parties, have agreed upon the following:

1. Within 48 hours of the signing of this agreement, a special law will be adopted,signed and promulgated, which will restore the Constitution of 2004 including amendments passed until now. Signatories declare their intention to create a coalition and form a national unity government within 10 days thereafter.

2. Constitutional reform, balancing the powers of the President, the government and parliament, will start immediately and be completed in September 2014.

3. Presidential elections will be held as soon as the new Constitution is adopted but no later than December 2014. New electoral laws will be passed and a new Central Election Commission will be formed on the basis of proportionality and in accordance with the OSCE & Venice commission rules.

4. Investigation into recent acts of violence will be conducted under joint monitoring from the authorities, the opposition and the Council of Europe.

5. The authorities will not impose a state of emergency. The authorities and the opposition will refrain from the use of violence. The Parliament will adopt the 3rd amnesty, covering the same range of illegal actions as the 17th February 2014 law.

Both parties will undertake serious efforts for the normalisation of life in the cities and villages by withdrawing from administrative and public buildings and unblocking streets, city parks and squares.

Illegal weapons should be handed over to the Ministry of Interior bodies within 24 hours of the special law, referred to in point 1 hereof, coming into force. After the aforementioned period, all cases of illegal carrying and storage of weapons will fall under the law of Ukraine. The forces of authorities and of the opposition will step back from confrontational posture. The Government will use law enforcement forces exclusively for the physical protection of public buildings.

6. The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Poland and the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation call for an immediate end to all violence and confrontation.

Kyiv, 21 February 2014

Signatories:

President of Ukraine: Viktor Yanukovych
Vitaliy Klichko, UDAR
Oleh Tyahnibok, Svoboda
Arsenij Yatseniuk, Batkivshchyna

Witnessed by:

For the EU:
Poland Germany France
Radoslaw Sikorski (Foreign Minister)
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Foreign Minister)
Laurent Fabius (Foreign Minister)

For the Russian Federation
Vladimir Lukin (Special Envoy) [initialed draft; did not sign agreement]

— A link to this text is published in Der Spiegel, 21 February 2014.

For the text in German, see

“Einigung in Kiew: Die Friedenserklärung im Wortlaut; Nach langem Hin und Her haben sich die Konfliktparteien in Kiew auf einen Kompromiss geeinigt. Er sieht einen Sechs-Punkte-Plan vor. Hier die Erklärung im Wortlaut,” Der Spiegel, 21 February 2014 (16:40 Uhr).

In an outstanding example of successful statecraft, European foreign policy leaders have saved the day, for now.

The Trenchant Observer

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About the Author

James Rowles
"The Trenchant Observer" is edited and published by James Rowles (aka "The Observer"), an author and international lawyer who has taught International Law, Human Rights, and Comparative Law at major U.S. universities, including Harvard, Brandeis, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Kansas. Dr. Rowles is a former staff attorney at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States OAS), in Wasington, D.C., , where he was in charge of Brazil, Haiti, Mexico and the United States, and also worked on complaints from and reports on other countries including Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. As an international development expert, he has worked on Rule of Law, Human Rights, and Judicial Reform in a number of countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Russian Federation. In the private sector, Dr. Rowles has worked as an international attorney for a leading national law firm and major global companies, on joint ventures and other matters in a number of countries in Europe (including Russia and the Ukraine), throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Japan. The Trenchant Observer blog provides an unfiltered international perspective for news and opinion on current events, in their historical context, drawing on a daily review of leading German, French, Spanish and English newspapers as well as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and other American newspapers, and on sources in other countries relevant to issues being analyzed. Dr. Rowles speaks fluent English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, and also knows other languages. He holds an S.J.D. or Doctor of Juridical Science in International Law from Harvard University, and a Doctor of Law (J.D.) and a Master of the Science of Law (J.S.M.=LL.M.), from Stanford University. As an undergraduate, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree, also from Stanford, where he graduated “With Great Distinction” (summa cum laude) and received the James Birdsall Weter Prize for the best Senior Honors Thesis in History. In addition to having taught as a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School, Dr. Rowles has been a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs (CFIA). His fellowships include a Stanford Postdoctoral Fellowship in Law and Development, the Rómulo Gallegos Fellowship in International Human Rights awarded by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and a Harvard MacArthur Fellowship in International Peace and Security. Beyond his articles in The Trenchant Observer, he is the author of two books and numerous scholarly articles on subjects of international and comparative law. Currently he is working on a manuscript drawing on some the best articles that have appeared in the blog.

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