On October 29, 2024, the event “Ukraine’s Path to the EU: Key findings from the Shadow Report on Title 23 “Justice and Fundamental Rights” and the Second EU-Ukraine Bilateral Session on Chapter 23 (Cluster 1 “Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process”)” took place in Kyiv, organized with the support of the EU Project “Pravo-Justice” and a coalition of civil society organizations.
Non-governmental organizations, including the Agency for Legislative Initiatives, Transparency International Ukraine, ZMINA Human Rights Center, “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” NGO, and Ukrainian Bar Association, presented the Shadow Report on Chapter 23 “Justice and Fundamental Rights” of the European Commission on Ukraine 2023.
During the panel discussion on “Justice: Next Key Steps in Ukraine’s Integration into the EU”, Andrii Pasichnyk answered questions about the results of the selection procedure carried out by the Commission to solve the personnel problems of the judiciary, as well as the progress of the Commission’s fulfillment of international obligations in the process of European integration.
The Chairman of the HQCJ said that the Commission had completed the competition for vacant positions of judges in local courts announced on September 14, 2023, and recommended appointing almost 400 persons to the relevant positions. Under an optimistic scenario, by the end of next year, the Commission will be able to provide recommendations for the appointment of judges to the courts of appeal, as the competition to the courts of appeal is scheduled to be completed in 2025. He also told about the current stage of the competition to the High Anti-Corruption Court and how the qualification evaluation of judges for their suitability for the position is being conducted.
In addition, the Chairman of the Commission emphasized the digitalization of work processes in the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine. Today, the HQCJ members, together with representatives of other judicial authorities and international technical assistance projects, are making every effort to ensure that the electronic judge’s dossier will be operational in 2026.
According to Andrii Pasichnyk, with the help of international partners, the Commission will be able to fulfill its obligations within the framework of European integration processes.
Among other things, the participants discussed some issues of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention during the discussion on anti-corruption policy, and a separate discussion panel was devoted to human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The event was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine – Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna, the Ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova, the Head of the Supreme Court Stanislav Kravchenko, the Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Iryna Mudra, the Deputy Chairman of the High Council of Justice Dmytro Lukianov, the Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Viktor Horodovenko, the Deputy Prosecutor General Viktoriia Litvinova, and other experts.