KIEV, February 17. /ITAR-TASS/. The leaders of party factions in the Ukrainian parliament have failed to agree on amendments to the country’s Constitution, Speaker Vladimir Rybak told a conciliatory council of the leaders of parliamentary factions and groups on Monday.

“We have held three consultations this week but so far we have failed to agree on any bill that would return the 2004 Constitution. However, we do have three drafts which have conceptual differences,” Rybak said.

“What should parliament do next? Should it go ahead with the consultations or should we pass on to considering our work calendar?” Rybak asked, suggesting that a commission be created at parliament’s plenary session on Tuesday to finalize the proposals and select a draft that would go through parliament. If adopted, the draft will go to the Venice Commission which is expected to draw its conclusions. After that, the draft will be submitted for consideration to Ukraine’s Constitutional Court.

“The parliamentary majority is ready to consider all the proposals on constitutional amendments,” the speaker stressed.

Three opposition factions — Batkivshchina (Fatherland), UDAR (Punch) and Svoboda (Freedom) — have been insisting on amendments to Ukraine’s Constitution. The opposition wants to deprive the president of many of his powers and delegate them to parliament.