Poroshenko signs constitutional amendments on Ukraine's movement to EU, NATO
The document was signed during a speech by the head of state in the Verkhovna Rada at a meeting on the fifth anniversary of the beginning of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent said.
"Today, we are not going to look back at Russia. We will not ask permission from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin where we should move. We are walking our own path and making ourselves the decision on how to secure our own security, sovereignty and territorial integrity," Poroshenko said.
The president said that his strategic mission was to ensure the irreversibility of European and Euro-Atlantic integration and promised to submit an application for membership in the European Union and get a NATO Membership Action Plan not later than 2023.
On February 7, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law introducing amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (regarding the strategic course of the state on gaining Ukraine's full-fledged membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The president initiated the adoption of the document.
A total of 334 people's deputies voted for the decision.
The document introduces amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine, which envisage the irreversibility of the strategic course of the state for gaining full membership in the European Union and NATO.
At the same time, the Transitional Provisions of the Constitution exclude the clause that provides for the use of existing military bases on Ukraine's territory for the temporary stationing of foreign military formations under lease terms in accordance with international treaties.
The law takes effect from the day following the day it is published.
Сьогодні у присутності Президента Європейської Ради @eucopresident Дональда Туска підписав у сесійній залі ВР Закон про зміни до Конституції, яким незворотньо закріплений рух України до ЄС і НАТО.
— Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) 19 февраля 2019 г.
Слава Україні! pic.twitter.com/FJ541kYZy8
