21:03 24.09.2013

Venice Commission welcomes initiative to entitle Supreme Council of Justice to final decision making on appointment of judges

2 min read

President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio has said he is positive about the European integration bill proposed by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, which amends the Constitution of Ukraine and strengthens the guarantees of independence of judges.

"The draft amendments to the constitution are a very positive step. I have noted with satisfaction that recently they were approved by a large majority of the members of the Verkhovna Rada," Buquicchio said in an exclusive interview with the Ukrainian newspaper Law & Business posted on its Web site on Tuesday.

"I hope that the amendments to the constitution will be adopted but we should be aware that this is only a first step. The respective legislation will have to be amended and the changes will have to be implemented in practice," he said.

Asked whether the Venice Commission sees the new procedure for the selection of judges positively, Buquicchio said: "It is welcome that the Verkhovna Rada as a political body will no longer be involved in judicial appointments and that a judicial council with a majority of judges elected by other judges will play the decisive role in this respect."

"We are, however, conscious, that the independence of judges depends also on other elements. Judges must feel free from pressure by prosecutors. The draft law on the prosecution service will bring improvements in this field. Furthermore, corruption in the judiciary is a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Finally, independence is also a question of legal culture which changes more slowly than legal texts," he said.

Buquicchio also noted that the Venice Commission considers draft law on the prosecution service "as a very good basis for a comprehensive reform of the prosecution service but also as a text that requires further improvement."

"Our main concerns relate to the excessive powers prosecutors enjoy in order to determine whether to represent an individual or the state in court… The rules on instructions to lower-level prosecutors also have to be reviewed and clarified. There are a number of other points but, as stated above, in our opinion is that it should be possible to resolve all these points fairly quickly," he said.

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