The Venice Commission officially refused to appoint members to the Advisory Group of Experts, which should participate in the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine until its recommendations to amend the law on the Constitutional Court of Ukraine are implemented.
This was announced by the Speaker of the Council Ruslan Stefanchuk in a letter from the head of the Venice Commission, Claire Bazi-Malorie. It was published by representatives of DeJure.
The letter is accompanied by clarifications to the recommendations of the Venetian, published after the approval of the law in December 2022, which indicates that the key of them have not changed in the text of the law.
The point is that the number of members of the Advisory Group of Experts should be seven (not six), with a majority of four should be international experts. In addition, candidates recognized by the DGE as non-virtuous cannot be appointed to the position of judges of the CCU.
In the light of this conclusion, the prerequisites for the nomination of candidates for GGE members by the Venice Commission have not been met, the letter says.
The chairperson of the commission offered the Ukrainian side assistance with the preparation of relevant developments in the law on the Constitutional Court in order to take into account these recommendations.
Recall that on December 13, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada supported the draft law No. 7662 on improving the procedure for selecting candidates for the position of judge of the Constitutional Court. This happened without an amendment on the number of members of the Advisory Group of Experts, which Venetsyka sent on the eve of the consideration of the law.
Experts in the field of judicial reform warned that this could make the Constitutional Court under the control of the authorities, and asked the parliament not to pass the law in this form, and after the adoption they called on Zelensky to veto it.
On December 19, the Venice Commission published an updated opinion on the bill in No. 7662, recommending that it be amended in the version advocated by public experts in the field of judicial reform, but the president signed the law on December 20.
In June 2022, the European Commission recommended that Ukraine be granted the status of an EU candidate country, subject to the implementation of seven recommendations regarding the reform of the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court and judicial reform, the fight against corruption and money laundering, the proper implementation of anti-oligarchic legislation, the adoption of a new law, as well as ensuring the rights of national minorities.
Source: Racurs
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