On June 17, the Parliamentary Legal Committee supported the amendments of the MP Yurchyshyn to the draft law 4533, which provide for a real competitive selection of judges of the Constitutional Court.
The amendments approved by the Committee largely correspond to the model of selection of judges of the Constitutional Court proposed by the leading NGOs in November 2020.
Now the text of the draft law 4533 "On the constitutional procedure" foresees:
- introduction of the Qualification Commission (the Commission), which will check the integrity of all candidates to the Constitutional Court for all appointing bodies;
- the Parliament, the President and the Congress of Judges will be able to appoint only the candidate who was recommended by the Commission;
- the first composition of the Commission will be formed by the Parliament of experts nominated by international organizations and the retired judges of the first composition of the Constitutional Court. Further on, the Commission will select its members.
“The introduction of a transparent and effective competition for positions in the Constitutional Court will make it impossible for candidates of low integrity and politically dependent candidates to become Constitutional Court judges.
A politically loyal and dependent Constitutional Court is the result of the absence of a system in which the best candidates are selected to the Court. It is good that the Сommittee listened to the proposals of public experts and the Venice Commission,”
- says Stepan Berko, Advocacy Manager of the DEJURE Foundation
We welcome such a decision of the Committee and the MPs who supported it. The text of the draft law is currently being finalized and should be analyzed by the Main Legal Department of Verkhovna Rada. If the latter has any further comments, the Committee will consider them further. We will monitor the process of preparation of the draft law for consideration during the plenary week.
The idea of the introduction of the competitive procedure with the involvement of known international experts was supported by the Venice Commission.