KIEV, February 6 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian parliament will consider a bill that would change the constitution to curb presidential powers at an emergency session next week, speaker Volodymyr Rybak said Thursday.
"We have the opportunity to make the decision next week, maybe on Tuesday or Wednesday, I don’t know,” he said.
Kiev and other Ukrainian cities have been rocked by mass anti-government street protests since President Viktor Yanukovych backed away from signing a series of agreements with the EU in November in favor of cementing ties with Russia.
Among the protesters’ main demands is a return to the previous version of the constitution enacted in 2004 by then-President Viktor Yushchenko. The amended version, under which some presidential powers were handed over to the parliament and government, was ruled unconstitutional in 2010 during the first year of Yanukovych’s presidency.
