The Venice Commission made a conclusion regarding the draft law on the selection of judges to the KSU: there are “significant improvements”, but there is still work to be done

The European Commission for Democracy through Law, or the so-called Venice Commission, published an opinion on draft law No. 9322 on the selection of judges to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. The main thing: Ukraine did not comply with all the recommendations of the commission, but the document has "significant improvements".

Among the unfulfilled recommendations: during the adoption of the draft law in the first reading, it was not added that a seventh member of the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) is needed.

Instead, the Venice Commission "welcomed" the following changes in the document:

• to exclude candidates from further consideration if assessments of their integrity and professional competence are "inappropriate";
• to give a decisive vote to the international members of the Advisory Group of Experts during the evaluation of the integrity and professional competence of the candidates;
• to appoint replacement AGE members — for continuous work in the event that someone is removed from the competitive selection group or someone voluntarily withdraws from it.

At the same time, the commission recommends:

• exclude from Article 10 of the draft law the rule on the voting procedure for the election of judges by the congress;
• clarify the need to publish the names of the members of the Advisory Group of Experts who voted for each candidate at the rating stage;
• to note that the decisions of the members of the Advisory Group of Experts can be appealed only on formal grounds;
• to create conditions so that the positions of judges of the KSU are not vacant for a long time.

In general, the Venice Commission is satisfied with the constructive approach of the Ukrainian authorities to the improvement of the draft law.

"The Venice Commission considers that the key recommendations it made in its December 2022 opinion and in the follow-up to that opinion have been implemented," the conclusion read.

• On December 13, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada supported draft law No. 7662 on the selection of judges to the Constitutional Court without an amendment on the number of members of the Advisory Group of Experts, which selects candidates for the position of judges. The Venice Commission saw in this the risks of political interference. On December 19, it published an updated opinion on the draft law, recommending changes proposed by experts in the field of judicial reform. Despite this, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed the law.
• The European Commission expects that Ukraine will fully take into account the recommendations of the Venice Commission to the law on competitions for the positions of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
• This law is one of the requirements of the European Union for the start of accession negotiations. On June 23, Ukraine officially became a candidate for membership of the European Union. And 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 May 6, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine is introducing a competitive selection procedure for judges of the Constitutional Court for the first time.