Turning the pages back... July 7, 1996 (07/04/04)

Turning the pages back...

July 7, 1996

Eight years ago, on July 7, 1996, The Ukrainian Weekly's editorial commented on "perhaps the most historic moment in the short life of independent Ukraine" - the Verkhovna Rada's adoption of a new Constitution of Ukraine.

The adoption of the Constitution on June 28, "proved not only to the citizens of Ukraine, but to the world, that this nation of 52 million is slowly and steadily emerging as a major player alongside the member-states of the democratic European community," The Ukrainian Weekly wrote.

"There is no going back for us," said Justice Minister Serhiy Holovaty, one of the main authors of Ukraine's fundamental law. "We were given a choice, and we chose freedom," he said, explaining that the newly adopted document, European in spirit and Ukrainian in character, in his mind, solidifies Ukraine's independence and its development as a democratic state.

"In many ways, the adoption of the Constitution consolidated the majority of the forces in Parliament for the first time since Ukraine proclaimed its independence," we noted in our editorial. The marathon 16-hour session during which Ukraine's fundamental law was adopted "showed that in five years of independence, Ukraine's lawmakers had grown into statesmen, elected officials who represent the citizens of the democratic state of Ukraine."

Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz summed up the events of the night of June 27-28 most succinctly: "The strength of the Constitution is the fact that it created a precedent of unity in the Supreme Council, which I hope will be a lasting factor in the work of the legislature."

And President Leonid Kuchma, present in the session hall for the Constitution vote, commended the Parliament for its work. "I want to say that, regardless of what side anyone took in the past, in this situation you all came down on the side of Ukraine. This last event proved that we, in a critical moment, are worthy of being called the representatives of the Ukrainian people."

The Constitution was a long time in coming - Ukraine's sovereignty had been proclaimed six years earlier (on July 16, 1990) and its independence had been declared a year after that (on August 24, 1991). And it marked yet another peaceful transition for the independent state of Ukraine. As Justice Minister Holovaty so aptly pointed out: "The citizens of Ukraine went to sleep in one country, and got up the next morning in a new, constitutionally legitimized democratic state."

Source: "Ukraine comes of age" (editorial), The Ukrainian Weekly, July 7, 1996. Also in "Ukraine Lives!" - published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, (Parsippany, N.J.: The Ukrainian Weekly, 2002).

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