The constitutional process in Ukraine had a very dynamic start. In March 2015, President Petro Poroshenko established the Constitutional Commission. On July 1, 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament registered the draft law No. 2217a "On amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine" (as to decentralization) elaborated by the Constitutional Commission and submitted by the President of Ukraine. On November 25, 2015, the President of Ukraine suggested and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered the next draft law No. 3524 "On amendments to Constitution of Ukraine" (as to justice). A workgroup of the Constitutional Commission elaborated the draft law "On amendments to Constitution of Ukraine" (as to human rights) in mid-July 2015. The logic of the constitutional process launched in 2015 demands adoption of respective decision by the Constitutional Commission and the President of Ukraine.
According to academic advisor for legal issues of the Oleksandr Razumkov's center for economic and political researches / moderator of the event Viktor Musiyaka, the problem of the judicial reform has been on the Ukraine's agenda since the very declaration of the country's independence. Over that period there were numerous attempts to change the judicial system inherited from the soviet epoch starting with the minor judicial reform of 2000 and ending with the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On protection of right to fair trial" dated February 15, 2015.
However, Musiyaka noted that current amendments to the Constitution touching justice are the first successful attempt to change the situation in this field. Among positive elements contained within the text of the constitutional amendments, he mentioned: the improvement of the order of appointment of judges; certain improvements within the judicial system; perfection of the wording of Article 126 of the Constitution of Ukraine touching deprival of the Ukrainian Parliament of its duty to approve detention or arrest of judges; harmonization of the establishment of the High Justice Council with the European standards; abolition of Chapter VII 'Prosecutor's Office' of the effective Constitution and the transfer of the provisions on the prosecutor's office to the 'Justice' Chapter.
According to retired judge of the European Court of Human Rights / Deputy Head of the Constitutional Commission Volodymyr Butkevych, the wording of the constitutional provisions must be brought in line with the ones Ukraine obliged to stand by under various international agreements, or the ones currently in force in different international organizations Ukraine is planning to become a member of.
According to head of the Main legal policy department of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Kostiantyn Krasovskyi, everyone should understand that the enforcement of the right to fair trial is the first stage in the reformation of the judicial system launched in 2014 and declared as a top-priority by the President of Ukraine.
According to first deputy head of the Main legal department of the Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Arkadii Nyzhnyk, the Law of Ukraine "On amendments to Constitution of Ukraine" (as to justice) adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on June 2, 2016 has certain technical legal defects. He said that such defects could be removed only through amending respective provisions of the Basic Law.
The roundtable participants expressed their confidence that the constitutional process in Ukraine has finally been triggered.