The meeting of the Commission and representatives of the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine”, 10 June, 2015
Mr Sergii Koziakov, Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine met with Mr Virgilijus Valančius, Team Leader of the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine”. The meeting was also attended by Mr Stanislav Shchotka, Secretary of the Commission and Mrs Yulia Zemlytska and Mr Oleksandr Pavlenko, national experts of the Project.
During the meeting the participants discussed the possibility of launching in Ukraine a separate long-term EU project aimed to familiarize the Ukrainian judiciary and its court staff with the principles, mechanisms, regulatory scope and components of the EU legal system in context of Ukrainian obligations under the EU-Ukriane Association Agreement. In particular, it concerns the application of the Agreement norms and rules by courts of Ukraine as a result of adaptation of Ukrainian legislation with acquis communautaire (accumulated legal legacy of the EU).
Mr Koziakov stressed that the application in judicial practice of the acquis communautaire norms and rules requires of the judiciary a fundamental knowledge of the EU acquis components. This includes the knowledge of the meaning and the fundamental principles of the EU founding treaties, internal legal acts and court decisions which constitute the body of European Union law, approved resolutions and declarations, acts in the field of justice and home affairs, international agreements concluded by the Community and others.
As was noted by the Chairman of the Commission, it is important to start the process of training in respect of the Ukrainian judges and court staff for providing them with the necessary knowledge, information and documents that would allow them to apply acquis communautaire in their judicial practice. Another focus of the project may be concentrated on studying court practice of the ECJ.
In view of the continuing aggression by the Russian Federation, the annexation of the Crimea, massive human rights violations and crimes against humanity occurring in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, teaching the Ukrainian judges of rules and procedures for application of modern international law could be another component of the project.
The Chairman of the Commission also drew attention of Mr Valančius to the fact that according to the Law of Ukraine on Judiciary and Status of Judges the HQCJU has the right and is authorized to be the beneficiary of international technical assistance, the main distributor of international assistance from foreign states, banks and international financial organizations.
Mr Valančius supported the proposal of creating long-term EU project for training the judiciary of Ukraine of rules and procedures of applying acquis communautaire, decisions of the European Court of Justice, rules of international law in judicial practice and creating a database of legal documents of the EU, primarily consisting of th decisions of the ECJ.
Mr Valančius informed of the Lithuanian experience on this issue and proposed to organize short lookthrough trainings for Ukrainian judges at the premises of the National School of Judges of Ukraine. He also noted about his future meeting with Mr Jan Tombinski, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, when the possibility and format of the proposed project will be discussed.
