A group of public intellectuals proposes changing the Constitution: "A New Birth of Ukraine" Manifesto is signed

On the eve of the Constitution Day of Ukraine a group of public intellectuals signed a document in Lviv that declares the need to make significant changes to the basic law of the state after the victory: to balance the declared ideals and the real situation and to establish a new public consensus. The constitutional manifesto "A New Birth of Ukraine" emphasizes the unique historical opportunity to channel the unity of Ukrainians created by the war into the formulation of common values and ideals which may become the foundation for building a new Ukrainian society. "The basic law that can be easily ignored by those in power is by definition a bad constitution," the manifesto reads. — The main purpose of the constitution is actually to structure the system of power and create incentives to comply with its prescriptions. Our constitution will continue to be an empty declaration until we change it in a way to create the conditions for its effective application." The best time for change is the end of the war, according to the authors of the manifesto, – when the unity of the country will be maximal.

The manifesto had been developed for about six months. Among the co-authors: David Williams, professor of law at the Indiana University School of Law, head of the Indiana University Center for Constitutional Democracy; Svitlana Khilyuk, director of the Ukrainian Catholic University School of Law; Gennadi Druzenko (who previously studied with Professor Williams), chairman of the board of the Center for Constitutional Modeling, co-founder and president of the First Volunteer Mobile Hospital named after Mykola Pirogov.

Among the first signatories: Nobel laureate Oleksandra Matviychuk; president and deputy rector of UCU,