In its final conclusion, the Venice Commission positively assessed draft constitutional amendments on justice

On October 23, 2015, the Venice Commission provided a positive conclusion on the draft constitutional amendments on justice approved by the Constitutional Commission of Ukraine on September 4, 2015. It was stated that “the last version of amendments to the Constitution is very positive and well-prepared, and deserves certain support”.

Commenting on the final conclusion of the Venice Commission, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine and Secretary of the Constitutional Commission Oleksiy Filatov noted: “Having supported all key proposals of the Constitutional Commission, the Venice Commission has confirmed compliance of the draft amendments with the European standards. The final conclusion is a significant contribution to the further development of judicial reform based on the principle of the rule of law, not on situational political or populist arguments. We are grateful to the Venice Commission experts for their high estimation and are hopeful that the revised draft constitutional amendments will be approved at the plenary session of the Constitutional Commission and submitted by the President for consideration by the Parliament”.

The Venice Commission praised the abolition of trial period for judges, exception of “breach of oath” from the list of grounds to dismiss judges, introduction of competition procedures in the appointment of judges, formation of the Supreme Council of Justice so that the majority of its members are judges elected by judges, holding of the reform of public prosecution and guarantees of its independence (primarily through deprivation of the Verkhovna Rada’s authority to express distrust in the Prosecutor General), depriving the prosecution of an authority to exercise general supervision, introduction of the institute of constitutional complaint etc.

The Venice Commission welcomes the fact that following its recommendations, the drafters have removed the authority of the Parliament to appoint judges and the authority of the President to dismiss judges and conveyed them to the Supreme Council of Justice. At the same time, the Venice Commission recommends to clearly stipulate that the Supreme Council of Justice has the authority to transfer and promote judges, though the President may have a role in this process in the transition period for the reasons of national security.

The Venice Commission also notes that “only rough disciplinary offenses can lead to the dismissal of the Constitutional Court judges”.

The Venice Commission emphasizes that the dismissal of all judges, except for extraordinary cases such as changing the constitutional system does not meet the European standards and the principle of the rule of law. At the same time, it doesn’t exclude the renewal of the judicial corps through the reorganization of certain courts and the evaluation of judges’ compliance with criteria of professionalism, ethics and integrity, which coincides with the position of the Constitutional Commission.

The Venice Commission praised constructive cooperation with the Constitutional Commission and noted that “after numerous attempts and many years of reforming the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine on justice, it is high time to carry out long overdue reform and move towards an independent judiciary. The Venice Commission considers such constitutional amendments an important step towards achieving this goal”.

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