Meeting of the Commission’s leadership with the Special Advisor to Council of Europe’s Secretary General for Ukraine was held
On 23 May 2018, the meeting between the Chairman of the Commission Mr. Sergii Koziakov and the Head of the Commission’s Secretariat Ms. Olena Ponomarenko and the Special Advisor to Council of Europe’s Secretary General for Ukraine Mr. Regis Brillat was held at the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.
The main topic of the meeting was to discuss Commission’s plans and procedures in 2018.
In particular, Mr. Sergii Koziakov noted that according to the transitional provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Commission is required to conduct the qualification assessment of all judges of Ukraine and that is about 5300 judges. According to HQCJ’s Chairman, within the framework of the qualification assessment, the Commission carries out the examination of current judges, which consists of an anonymous written test on the knowledge of law and a practical task, three times a week, and three times a week – interviewing judges with members of the Commission based on the results of judicial dossiers review. All interviews are public and broadcast on HQCJ YouTube Channel.
Mr. Sergii Koziakov stated that this year the Commission plans to complete the competition to the IP court and the procedure of selecting future judges as well as to announce a second competition to the Supreme Court. Also in 2018, the Commission should conduct a procedure of transfer of judges without competition to the newly established courts in accordance with the Decree of the President of Ukraine of 29 December 2017, No. 449/2017 “On the Liquidation and Establishment of Local General Courts”. The Chairman of the Commission thanked the Council of Europe for monitoring Commission’s procedures and professional advice from European experts.
Mr. Brillat commended the steps taken by the HQCJ to reform the judicial system within its mandate, stressing that the results were impressive, and the experience was truly unique to the European countries. “I follow closely the work of the newly formed Supreme Court and I already see positive changes. In recent decisions, the new Supreme Court has repeatedly applied the ECHR practice. We also noted the decrease in the number of appeals of Ukrainians to the ECHR. So, we can positively evaluate the work of the new Supreme Court and the process of selecting judges, thanks to the extremely important work that the Commission is carrying out”, the European high ranking official said.
In addition, Mr. Brillat expressed readiness of the Council of Europe to continue to provide expert support to the Commission in its activities. “The main objective of the Council of Europe in the field of justice and human rights is to increase the level of public confidence in the judiciary. And the number of candidates in the process of selecting future judges clearly shows that this trust is growing. This is an important result”, added the European expert.
