The Chairman of the Committee on the Rule of Law and Justice Serhiy Kivalov met with the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Jean-Claude Mignon
28 March 2013, 10:46
Attention was focused on cooperation between the Council of Europe and Ukraine. Particularly, the Parties discussed the issue of judicial and legal reform and improvement of legislation in the sphere of judiciary and legal proceedings.
Serhiy Kivalov informed the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Jean-Claude Mignon on the work of the Committee on the Rule of Law and Justice in the sphere of law-making, as well as on new competence of the Committee, and generally, on the course of justice reform. He spoke about close cooperation of Ukrainian law-makers and the European experts on legal issues.
The Committee Chair stressed that Ukraine consistently implements recommendations given by the Council of Europe bodies in regard to legislation in the sphere of judiciary and the status of judges. These recommendations aim at eliminating contradictions between some of domestic legislation provisions and the European standards.
S.Kivalov informed that the Committee works on refinement of legislative basis of criminal, civil, economic processes and administrative judiciary.
“We continue working over unification of our procedural codes, on bringing legislation in the sphere of judiciary and the status of judges in line with the European standards,” noted S.Kivalov.
Apart from this, the Committee Chair said that the bill aiming at strengthening the authorities of the Supreme Court of Ukraine is under preparation in the Parliament. According to him, the Committee intends to hold parliamentary hearings on the role and place of the Supreme Court in the system of domestic justice in April.
Attention was also focused on future Constitutional reform. The Parties stressed the need to amend the Constitution of Ukraine for further improvement of justice system.
At the end of the meeting, S.Kivalov emphasized the important role of the Council of Europe institutions in promoting judicial and legal reform in Ukraine and appreciated personal contribution of European experts in this sphere.
Jean-Claude Mignon stood for improving the monitoring procedure in order to view it as a form of Council of Europe assistance to Ukraine in developing democracy. “We understand that building a democratic state is a toilsome process, and absolute fulfillment of Ukraine’s obligations to the Council of Europe requires some time. The traditions of a state should be considered,” noted Jean-Claude Mignon.
The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe hopes that the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement will be signed in November this year. “My goal and the goal of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is to assist Ukraine in fulfillment of certain conditions posed by the European Union within the framework of the Association Agreement,” he said.