The Chairman of the Committee of the Rule of Law and Justice Serhiy Kivalov met with the delegation of the Council of Europe headed by the Secretary of the European Commission “For Democracy through Law” (Venice Commission) Thomas Markert
06 September 2013, 14:54
Such members of the European Commission “For Democracy through Law” (Venice Commission) and experts of the Directorate General on Human Rights as Hanna Suchocka, Kaarlo Tuori, Peter Paczolay, Nicolae Esanu, Shnuts Durr and others participated in the meeting.
During the meeting the attention was drawn to the issues on reforming the Prosecutor’s bodies in Ukraine. Particularly the bill “On the Prosecutor’s Office” was discussed and submitted for expert opinion to the Venice Commission.
Serhiy Kivalov informed the European experts about the work of the Committee of the Rule of Law and Justice. He also said that Ukrainian Parliament almost unanimously adopted the decision to submit to the Constitutional Court the amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine concerning strengthening guarantees of judges’ independence, pointing out that recommendations of the Venice Commission were included into its latest version.
The Committee Chairman noted that Ukrainian law-makers are interested in close cooperation between international experts on legal issues.
“Only now when the new Criminal Procedure Court was adopted and implemented we can start the all-round reformation of the Prosecutor’s Office system,” – Serhiy Kivalov said.
Serhiy Kivalov also stressed that the bill will be considered by the Ukrainian Parliament after the expert opinion of the European Commission “For Democracy through Law”.
During the meeting the attention was also drawn to the work of the Constitutional Assembly of Ukraine. It was noted that for the further reformation of the Prosecutor’s bodies amendments to the Basic Law of Ukraine should be made.
The Chairman of the Council of Europe delegation Thomas Markert claimed that “now is a perfect time for our visit to Ukraine because the reforms have gained considerable momentum.” Besides, he welcomed important decisions that the Ukrainian Parliament adopted. According to him, the most important is the decision on sending to the Constitutional Court the amendments to the Constitution, and other decisions that have been adopted by the Verkhovna Rada lately.
Thomas Markert expressed his hope that the Venice Commission will send the expert opinions to the bill “On the Prosecutor’s Office” as soon as possible.