Ukraine's High Council of Justice elected new High Qualification of Judges, one of requirements on "EU membership list"

On 1 June, the High Council of Justice appointed all members of the new High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ), which was one of the tasks received by Ukraine along with the status of a candidate for EU membership.

Source: European Pravda with reference to the High Council of Justice.

Details: Based on the results of interviews with 32 candidates recommended by the Selection Commission HQCJ, the High Council of Justice appointed 16 members of the Commission, 8 of whom were appointed from among judges and retired judges.

The communique notes that unlocking the work of the HQCJ will allow for recruitment of judges on more than 2,000 vacant positions, and to complete the qualification evaluation of judges.

The DEJURE Foundation, an expert organisation specialising in judicial reform monitoring, congratulated the election of the new High Court of Justice and called the event "an unequivocal victory", but also noted that there is a lack of "agents of change" among the new members, in particular, there is not a single representative of specialised non-governmental organisations.

In addition, among the members there were two judges whose integrity is still questioned by public experts: Volodymyr Luhanskyi and Liudmyla Volkova.

"In any case, we will evaluate the new body based on the first results of its activity. In particular, their first decisions regarding the procedure for selecting and evaluating judges, including the formation of the Public Integrity Council, will be very revealing," DEJURE said in a statement.

Before that, the ambassadors of the Group of Seven called on Ukraine to ensure the transparent appointment of the members of the HQCJ and to appoint them as soon as possible.

The powers of the previous composition of the HQCJ of Ukraine were terminated on 16 October 2019 in connection with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s adoption of Law of Ukraine No. 193-IX "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges’ and some laws of Ukraine regarding the activities of judicial governance bodies".

Read more: Seven EU Requirements for Ukraine: Accession Negotiations Getting Closer

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