The Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine

The Declaration on State Sovereignty of Ukraine was adopted on July 16, 1990. The Declaration defines the main direction of internal and external policy of Ukraine. In accordance with the Declaration Ukraine is a sovereign democratic state. The Declaration includes 10 Articles.

The Declaration considers the will of all people of Ukraine to create a democratic state, which will fully secure human rights and freedoms. The Ukraine's internal policy is based on respect of national rights and dignity of all the people of Ukraine. The Declaration guarantees the equality of all citizens of Ukraine irrespective of their origin, social and property status, political and religious views. The Declaration states that the territory of Ukraine is inviolable within the existing borders. The section of economic independence states that Ukraine has an exclusive right to possession, utilization and managing of all the national wealth.

Ukraine takes measures for environmental protection. Relations of Ukraine with foreign countries shall be conducted on the principles of equality, mutual respect and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

The Declaration is the basis for the new Constitution and the laws of Ukraine. On August 24, 1991 the Act of State Sovereignty of Ukraine was adopted. After proclamation of independence Ukraine started building the democratic state. Ukraine became a presidential- parliamentary republic. The legislative power is represented by Supreme Rada of Ukraine, It is headed by the chairman of Supreme Rada and is responsible for making laws. It discusses and adopts the State Budget for the coming year. It has 450 deputies.

The executive power is headed by the President. The President of Ukraine is elected for 4 year's period. Within the executive branch there are a number of Ministries: Ministry of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce and Health.

The Head of the Ministry is appointed by the President. The appointments must be approved by Supreme Rada.

The judicial power is represented by the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. They watch over the executive and legislative powers. They are nominated by Supreme Rada.

The Constitutional Court has the right to declare laws and actions of the governments unconstitutional. Besides the organs of power, the political system of Ukraine includes political parties and social organizations. The left parties are the Communist party, Socialist and Agrarian. Rukh together with the UNO-UNSO represents the right wing. The largest centrist parties are the Christian-Democratic party and the Social -Democratic Party.

In 1995 the relations between two branches of power became extremely aggravated. It made the President to resort to extreme measures - polling of Ukraine's population on the trust in the President or the Supreme Rada.

Luckily, the Constitutional agreement was approved at the plenary meeting of the Supreme Rada. On June 7 the Parliament, in the presence of the President, voiced by 240 votes in favour of the Constitutional agreement. Both branches of power succeeded in reaching accord.

June 8, 1995 will enter the modern history of Ukraine. On that day a Constitutional agreement on the division of authority between the branches of power was signed in Mariinsky Palace.

The Agreement had to be effective till Ukraine's New Constitution had been adopted. On November 10, 1995 the European Council legalized the membership of Ukraine. It became the important factor of the European security and development. In June 1996 Ukraine was given the 3 year term to bring the Ukrainian legislation in accordance with the European standards. The requirement to cancel the death penalty aroused plenty of discussions. Joining the European civilization must help Ukraine to advance along the road of democratization.

Due to this, it was necessary to bring the Ukrainian legislation into accordance with European norms. On June 28, 1996, after the intensive and dramatic night debates the Supreme Rada adopted the Constitution of Ukraine.

On September 2, 1996, after the celebration of Ukraine Independence Day the national monetary unit Hryvnia was introduced in Ukraine. Bills for 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 Hryvnias marked with year 1992 were designed and printed in Canada. Bills of 1 Hryvnia /alternative design/, 50 and 100 Hryvnias were designed and printed in Ukraine in 1994. Hryvnia can be freely converted to hard currency. In 1997 the National Bank announced that the new designs would be released to increase their protection from falsification.