The lustration process in Ukraine will be continued, as society calls for it, although Ukraine will take into consideration recommendations on the matter from the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said.

"We are not talking about stopping or suspending the lustration process. We are talking about taking into consideration some warnings that Venice Commission experts have aired, and we will certainly take them into consideration," Petrenko said on Channel 5 television on Tuesday evening.

Ukraine has explained to Venice Commission experts that, while the lustration legislation undergoes review and amendments for two months, a relatively small number of top-ranking officials will be subjected to vetting, he said.

"We reached an agreement with Venice Commission representatives today that a delegation of experts should arrive next week to work together with parliamentarians and Justice Ministry officials on amendments currently being drawn up by the working group," he said.

The amendments, in particular, grant independent status to the public lustration commission working now, Petrenko said. The legislation would also introduce an individual amnesty institution, on which Venice Commission experts have insisted, he said.

"If we talk about fundamental changes, there will be a provision allowing for applying lustration, inter alia, to elective offices. This is a position by Ukrainian experts," Petrenko said, adding that, as agreed upon with Venice Commission experts, the revised legislation will stipulate a lustration process mechanism complying with the Ukrainian constitution.

"These amendments to the law will surely make this process more legitimate," Petrenko said. "We have stated clearly - this is the prime minister's position - that the lustration process will not be phased out. We must bring it to an end, because Ukrainian citizens demand this and because this is an essential precondition for transformations in the country," he said.

Petrenko said he was sure that the third and fourth phases of lustration will go according to plan. "Before this, we will do all we can so as to take into consideration proposals by Venice Commission experts, make technical amendments to the law, and complete the lustration process," he said.

Petrenko vowed that amendments to the lustration laws will be agreed upon with Venice Commission experts so as not to be rejected later by them.

"I am sure we will find a compromise version of the amendments that would suit both Venice Commission experts and the Ukrainian government, which has enough political will to complete the lustration process," he said.

Gianni Buquicchio, the president of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), said earlier that he believed Ukraine should suspend the enforcement of its lustration legislation as it should be reviewed and possibly refined.