The European Commission requires Ukraine to comply with the Venice Commission regarding the law on the Constitutional Court of Ukraine

The European Commission fully agrees with the recommendations of the Venice Commission regarding draft law No. 7662 on competitions for positions of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and expects their implementation.

This was reported by Suspilne.

According to the law, the president, the Verkhovna Rada and the Congress of Judges have the right to appoint judges of the CCU. All of them hold their own competitions according to their own requirements. The draft law also provides for the creation of an Advisory Group of Experts, which will check all candidates. This group will include three representatives from Ukraine (one each from the President, the Council and the Congress of Judges) and three international experts.

On December 19, the Venice Commission published an updated opinion on the draft law in No. 7662. The experts of the commission recommended updating the draft law and including one more member in the Advisory Group of Experts.

The European Commission believes that excluding candidates for the Constitutional Court on the basis of professional competence and increasing the number of members of the Advisory Group of Experts to seven would increase public trust in the Constitutional Court and ensure the impartiality of the selection process.

“We express confidence that the Ukrainian authorities are fully aware of the respective positions of the Venice Commission and the European Commission and are well prepared to make a decision on full compliance with their recommendations,” the European Commission noted.

• On June 23, Ukraine officially became a candidate for membership in the European Union. The European Commission has approved certain conditions that Ukraine must fulfill in order to start official accession negotiations. Ukraine planned to fulfill them by the end of 2022.
• On December 13, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the second reading and as a whole Law No. 7662 on competitions for the post of judges of the CCU. This law is one of the requirements of the European Union for the start of accession negotiations.
• On December 20, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed draft law No. 7662 on competitions for the positions of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, despite the conclusion of the Venice Commission.