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Updated 3.21pm
THE OPPOSITION IN Ukraine has agreed to a deal to end the protracted crisis rocking the country after marathon negotiations between President Viktor Yanukovych and EU envoys, leader Oleh Tyahnybok said.
“It was decided to approve the decision to sign the agreement with the president on the condition that the (current) interior minister is not in the next government and the attorney general is replaced,” he was quoted as saying by Ukraine’s Interfax news agency.
The following is the text of the agreement:
1. Within 48 hours of the signing of this agreement, a special law will be adopted, signed and promulgated, which will restore the Constitution of 2004 including amendments passed until now.Signatories declare their intention to create a coalition and form a national unity government within 10 days thereafter.
2. Constitutional reform, balancing the powers of the President, the government and parliament, will start immediately and be completed in September 2014.
3. Presidential elections will be held as soon as the new Constitution is adopted but no later than December 2014.
New electoral laws will be passed and a new Central Election Commission will be formed on the basis of proportionality and in accordance with the OSCE & Venice commission rules.
4. Investigation into recent acts of violence will be conducted under joint monitoring from the authorities, the opposition and the Council of Europe.
5. The authorities will not impose a state of emergency. The authorities and the opposition will refrain from the use of violence.
The Parliament will adopt the 3rd amnesty, covering the same range of illegal actions as the 17th February 2014 law.
Both parties will undertake serious efforts for the normalisation of life in the cities and villages by withdrawing from administrative and public buildings and unblocking streets, city parks and squares.
Illegal weapons should be handed over to the Ministry of Interior bodies within 24 hours of the special law, referred to in point 1 hereof, coming into force.
After the aforementioned period, all cases of illegal carrying and storage of weapons will fall under the law of Ukraine.
The forces of authorities and of the opposition will step back from confrontational posture.
The Government will use law enforcement forces exclusively for the physical protection of public buildings.
6. The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Poland and the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation call for an immediate end to all violence and confrontation.
Earlier
Earlier today, Yanukovych confirmed he will call an early presidential election.
“I am initiating early presidential elections,” Yanukovych said in a statement, without specifying a date.
He also said he was starting the process of changing the constitution and forming a government of national unity.
The news follows crisis overnight talks talks mediated by the EU and Russia, which were convened in the wake of the worst day of violence yet in the country’s current crisis.
Gunfire
In other developments, Ukraine’s interior ministry this morning accused anti-government protesters of shooting at police officers.
“Rioters opened fire at police officers and tried to break through in the direction of the Verkhovna Rada,” the statement said, adding that the incident started at 10:15 am (08.15am Irish time)
In the wake of yesterday’s violence, the European Union agreed to slap a travel ban and asset freeze against Ukrainians with “blood on their hands” but left the door open to a political deal by naming no names.
The sanctions, which include a wide-ranging ban on European sales of anti-riot equipment, mark a diplomatic U-turn for the EU, which had previously had resisted US calls to impose punitive measures.
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You can make tea and take long breaks when at home. It’s a good fit right enough
@v39e84kK: You can make tea in the office aswell. Whats your point?
@v39e84kK: I’ll try again. You last reply to me was deleted by The Jouranal. Don’t attempt anything like that again, unless you want to end up in court.
@v39e84kK: You can make tea and take long breaks in the office environment too. Have seen many examples of this over the years in private and public sector jobs.
@Belebopz: That’s the joke.
@David A. Murray: Sound.
@v39e84kK: It’s not a joke, more a backhanded aside about public and civil servants. Go make me a cup of tea will you seeing as you have time on your hands there.
@v39e84kK: I trust me understand each other. What’s typed on the Internet is permanently there (even if deleted, it’s still on record). I want no public association (either visible or not) with that person. I can understand that we can all react on the Internet and type something we would wish to take back (or have worded differently), but I cannot afford any connection to be made, even if it was indirect.
@v39e84kK: Do not question authority.
If there’s any inefficiency or increased agro for tax payers then they should have to go back in person. I don’t trust civil service or state sector to ensure people are actually working from home.
@Damon16: maybe you should talk to someone about you’re trust issues ?
@Damon16: This implies you trust them currently!
Policy documents like this are all well and good but it will never be implemented as it’s written down, as it always comes down to the managers to do things right. I’ve a friend in the civil service who was being forced into the office, to do virtual meetings. Absolutely no rhyme or reason, other than micromanagement. In another Dept, all stats have gone up since wfh and backlogs greatly decreased.
Of course there will be people who will do nothing when at home … but they are the same people who do nothing when they’re in work either
Any chance the Motor Tax office can open ?
I know the folks in there will be filled with dread at the thought of risking their lives returning to work during a , eh , pandemic. The rest of seemed to fair ok returning to work long ago , with a low enough body count .
An anomaly on the online platform has been preventing me from donating to the tax fund for 9 months with no help on line .
@Keith Flood: Motor Tax Office in my local authority has been open to the public for months now
Let’s pretend there was no pandemic. Get up off your a*r*s*e*s & get to the office. Like retail staff, like doctors & nurses. Like every other hard working employee around the country.
@John Barry: Working from home does not make you less hard working or less effective. Some tasks I can do from home and some require me to be on site. Depends on the task. Just because hard-working shop workers, doctors and nurses jobs need to be on-site, doesn’t mean every hard-working worker should be on site. The pandemic has meant that thinking on working from home has changed. We can’t unknow what we learned, so going back to all pre-pandemic work practices makes no sense.
@Mickey Finn: very true. In general I have been more productive since working from home as I don’t get those constant interruptions from small talk or general office noise. Also, I am more likely to finish off a task in the evening, as I am not worried about missing a train/bus, and not shattered from the commute.
Hope that some private companies will follow this example, as the Right to Request Remote Work Bill as not been enacted yet, and it is already facing some serious opposition from Employers’ groups.
@Dr. Emmett Lathrop: It’s so Ireland that we are making a bill on allowing people to ASK for things. Amazing. Truly is a microcosm of everything wrong with Irish politics.
@Dr. Emmett Lathrop:
We only have to go in one day a month now for team meetings.
They’re after pulling out most of the desks & converting the office space to blocks of meeting rooms with all the latest tech in them.
100” Microsoft surface screens in the larger ones and 50” ones in the smaller. Full digital conference facilities. Really quite impressive.
@Dr. Emmett Lathrop: You already have the right to request wfh from your employer. As long as your employer has the right to refuse said request then I’d be more than happy for the bill to proceed. He who pays the piper calls the tune as the saying goes.
Or to put it another way they will work from the office 80 percent of the time (4 days a week).
What a crock of nonsense.
We were allowed to WFH one day a week before covid. So they are just reverting back to what was there before. Very progressive.
the kind of article to stir up envy…
It doesn’t effect me one way or the other but this government is bizarre with its reversals, it depends which way the wind is blowing
40,000 civil servants, huh, I live off Fishamble street, next to the Dublin City Council building, the street has missive pot holes and graffiti on the street bins. What do they do again? Their a joke, privatize it all.
have your say