Opposition Bloc proposed to unite the "DPR" and "LPR" in "ITA" with their parliament and close ties with Russia
Opposition Bloc proposed to unite Donetsk and Luhansk regions into single Inter-regional Territorial Association (ITA) of Donbass in the framework of the special status of the occupied territories. This is stated in the draft law on the peculiarities of government of the separate districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions №4297.
According to the document, the ITA of Donbass has a special legal status, allowing local authorities to build militia units on the controlled territories and give consent to the appointment of the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Prosecutor’s Office and SSU.
According to deputies, the supreme legislative body of the ITA should be Representative Council headed by the Chairman.
In addition to orders and management of property, land and water resources of the deoccupied territories, competences of the Representative Council of ITA of Donbass include organizing and conducting local referendums. The Council, according to the draft law, decides on granting special status to Russian language and other languages of national minorities on a par with the state language.
Executive authorities must be concentrated in the hands of the head of ITA of Donbass, who are elected for five years. He will be responsible for development of the economic sector in the region and attracting investment. The document notes that the head of the ITA will cooperate with the Ukrainian authorities and to enter into agreements with foreign countries, especially the Russian Federation.
"The head represents the ITA of Donbass in foreign economic and trade relations, concludes agreements on cross-border cooperation in the economic sphere with the Russian Federation, other countries and other administrative and territorial units of those states," - says the document.
The draft law was registered on March 24th, 2016 but its text says that the elections of local authorities on the territory of the ITA of Donbass is planned to be held on October 25th, 2015. It’s hard to explain such an appeal to the past tense. This may be a technical error or the draft law was written long ago and the authors haven’t amended the document. Anyways, the document literally says: "Elections of the heads of the ITA of Donbass, members of the Representative Council of the ITA of Donbass, members of district, city, city district, town and village councils and village, town and city mayors on the territory of of the ITA of Donbass are to be held on October 25th, 2015.". (Quotation from the official website of VRU)
