KIEV, July 2 – President Petro Poroshenko said that the draft amendments to the Constitution related to decentralization give the president the right to dissolve local government agencies, which is normal practice in many European countries.

"I believe it is fundamentally important that the president should have the right, as the guarantor of territorial integrity, for the immediate response in the form of a decision to terminate powers [of local government agencies]. The Venice Commission has recognized as fully justified and supported the right, I quote, 'for faster and efficient intervention.' The right to dissolve local self-government agencies by the central authorities is common in many European democracies. However, they seldom use this right and being an optimist, I predict that in Ukraine this will not be a common practice," he said in Kiev on Wednesday during the presentation of draft amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine on decentralization.