REUTERS

This was announced by President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio in his speech at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe, according to eurointegration.com.ua.

"We're speaking about decentralization, rather than federalization. Federalism as a system works well in some countries, but in the case of Ukraine, there is no sense in devolving from a highly centralized state to federalism," he said.

Moreover, he said, the federalization of Ukraine is not allowed by the Ukrainian Constitution, and that part of it is very difficult to be changed.

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"I don't think a proposal to adopt an amendment that would designate Ukraine as a federal state will be broadly supported," he added.

According to him, fears that decentralization in Ukraine will lead to its disintegration are groundless.

"It does not lead to separatism. It is rather an alternative to separatism," Buquicchio said.

According to him, the need for decentralization in Ukraine has appeared long ago, and isn't a response to challenges related to developments in Donbas.

Buquicchio cited successful implementations of the decentralization scenario in South Tyrol and Francoist Spain.