The Venice Commission’s opinion about the bill on the Public Prosecutor's Office submitted by Ukraine for examination is positive, the commission believes that Ukraine will manage to reform public prosecution before the Vilnius summit.

Venice Commission Secretary and Head of a delegation of the Venice Commission to Ukraine, Thomas Markert, told reporters on September 6, 2013 that the delegation is on an official visit to meet representatives of Ukraine power and discuss law initiatives, in particular, the bill on the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Markert reminded that Ukraine obliged to reform the Public Prosecutor's Office in 2005.

“This reform is still a very important task for Ukraine. A chance to make this reform irreversible has appeared. The bill Ukrainian authorities had sent to the Venice Commission creates a good basis for reforming the Public Prosecutor's Office,” he said.

He said that delegation members met representatives of Ukrainian authorities and discussed the bill on the Public Prosecutor's Office. Markert said that the bill is not perfect, although there are no serious flaws that would have hinders the positive assessment of the bill by the Venice Commission.

“We’ll continue the discussion with Ukrainian authorities, and they are ready to amend the bill,” he said.

He said that at a meeting in October the Venice Commission will present the official conclusions on the bill.

“We’re confident enough in a chance to pass the important reform of the Public Prosecutor's Office before the Vilnius summit,” Markert said.

“I’m not a specialist in the regulations of the operation of the Verkhovna Rada, but if there is political will, the way to this will be found,” he said.

As reported, the bill on the Public Prosecutor's Office, which has been completed by the presidential administration, was sent for examination by the Venice Commission on August 2, 2013.

The bill provides for the total abolition of the general supervision by the prosecutor's office, the liquidation of 122 prosecutor's offices and reducing the powers of the remaining ones. The term of office, the procedure of appointment and dismissal of the prosecutor general will remain unchanged because of constitutional limitations, which the presidential administration expects to be the subject of criticism by the Venice Commission.

An adviser to the president of Ukraine, Andriy Portnov, said that the document is based on the previous findings of the commission and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).