Venice Commission in June to announce conclusions on amended constitution in justice sector, says Regions Party
Kyiv, May 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) will on June 13-14 issue its conclusions regarding the bill of amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in the justice section, which were elaborated by the presidential administration and submitted to the commission by the Constitutional Assembly in April 2013, the deputy permanent member of the Verkhovna Rada delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Volodymyr Pylypenko, has said.
"I'm sure that the conclusions will be ones of approval, and positive, as the amendments that were offered for study by the Venice Commission are a symbiosis of the conclusions and recommendations that the commission gave us when we made amendments to the law on the judicial system and the status of judges in 2009-2010. In fact, the amendments to the constitution reflect the recommendations of the Venice Commission," he said during the press conference hosted by Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
Pylypenko said the bill proposes to cancel the appointment of judges to posts for five-year terms, and elect them for life. The Venice Commission demands an increase in the age requirement for holding the post from 25 to 30 years, and that the Verkhovna Rada not have the right to elect judges.
"As practice has shown, recently MPs have not just appointed judges, but resolved their personal affairs outside the court, or settled scores with judges. This was fairly criticized by the experts, and I hope that the Verkhovna Rada, as a constitutional body, will soon be removed from the process of appointing judges. According to the amendments, the Supreme Council of Justice will appoint judges on the basis of the decision of the Higher Qualification Commission of Judges," he said.
According to Pylypenko, it is proposed to completely change the staff of the Supreme Council of Justice.
"You know that today judges don't form a majority in the Supreme Council of Justice. It is suggested that the judges make up over 2/3 of its staff and be responsible for the decisions that are taken by the Supreme Council of Justice. The president and the Verkhovna Rada will be deprived of the right to form the staff of the Supreme Council of Justice," he said.
"If the Venice Commission approves, then I see no legal grounds not to submit these amendments to the Verkhovna Rada. I think that after conclusions of the commission are made, the parliament will be ready to receive from the president's administration, or from the Constitutional Assembly, such amendments to the constitution. I think the president will probably use his right of legislative initiative, and amendments to the constitution could be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by the end of this session," the MP said.