10 October 2013, 18:17
On request of factions “Batkivshchyna” and “UDAR”, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Rybak at the beginning of the morning meeting announced a break for consultations on agenda items.
After the break, the leader of the faction “Batkivshchyna” Arsenii Yatseniuk made a statement on today’s consideration of the bill on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine re reinforcement of guarantees of judges’ independence.
“Three factions: “Batkivshchyna”, “UDAR” and “Svoboda” clearly outlined legal and political arguments necessary to introduce a new jointly agreed bill. According to the bill on amendments to the Constitution, there are two parallel structures, namely the High Council of Justice and the High Qualification Commission of Judges. The Venice Commission claims that there is no point in existence of these two bodies,” the statement reads.
A.Yatseniuk informed that factions suggest postpone voting on this bill and hold a meeting with the President of Ukraine V.Yanukovych, and also take as a basis the bill suggested by him and make considerable amendments proposed by the opposition.
The Advisor to the President of Ukraine Andrii Portnov informed about the draft law on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine re reinforcement of guarantees of judges’ independence. He noted that the bill was considered by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and was recognized as one complying with the Constitution.
A.Portnov cited the President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio “Suggested amendments to the Constitution are a very positive step.” He stressed that co-reporters of the Monitoring Committee of the Council of Europe in Ukraine called all political forces of the Verkhovna Rada for taking into consideration the recommendations of the Venice Commission and adopting suggested amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine.
The Advisor to the President of Ukraine reminded that adoption of this bill is a very important condition for signing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
A.Portnov claimed that the bill was elaborated with consideration of opinions and recommendation of the European experts.
“Analysis of their opinions and recommendation shows that the most problematic is the provision of the Fundamental Law of Ukraine that includes norms regarding the structure and powers of the High Council of Justice, current procedure of appointing and electing judges, the issue on the 5-year period of electing judges for the first time, the procedure of removing deputies’ immunity, and the procedure of formation and elimination of courts. The bill under discussion contains items regarding regulation of these problematic issues,” the reporter said.
The Chairman of the Committee on Judicial Policy Valerii Pysarenko informed that the Committee on Judicial Policy during its meeting on October 9, 2013 considered the bill, submitted by the President of Ukraine and defined as a top priority one, and the opinions of the Constitutional Court regarding it. He also noted that the aim of the bill is improvement of the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine and reinforcement of the current guarantees of judges’ independence that will help change current procedure of appointing and dismissing judges, reduce the role of political bodies in this process and allow devolving power on the jurisdiction of the bodies, mostly consisting of judges, regarding the settlement of issue connected with the judge’s activity.
V.Pysarenko informed that the Committee recommends that the Verkhovna Rada should pre-adopt the bill.
Representatives of all political
factions participated in the discussion of the bill.
People’s deputies form opposition factions voiced their remarks against pre-approval of the bill.
The leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) faction P.Symonenko informed that the faction will not uphold the bill if suggested amendments are not made. He added that CPU will not vote for the new version of the bill.
The Party of Regions representative V.Oliinyk stressed that unwillingness of the opposition parties to vote for the bill shows that they are against Ukraine’s European integration.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the resolution on pre-approval of the draft law on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine re reinforcement of guarantees of judges’ independence under Reg. No. 2522a with 244 votes.
The people’s deputy M.Khmil informed about cases of not individual voting by people’s deputies from the Party of Regions faction during the adoption of the decision.
The Chairman put the draft resolution on pre-approval of the bill to revoting which resulted in its adoption by 244 votes.
The people’s deputies adopted decisions on the ground of the discussed issues. The draft law on the probation service under Reg. No. 1197-1 was adopted as a basis.
The parliamentarians rejected the draft law on amendments to several legislative acts of Ukraine (re humanization of criminal legislation as well as organizational and legal prerequisites for the introduction of the probation service).
The Chairman of the Committee on Budget Yevhenii Hiellier reported on the draft law on amendments to article 6 of the Law “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2013”. He said that during the elaboration of the bill for the second hearing, the Committee received 18 proposals, 5 of which were upheld, 13 – rejected.
The people’s deputies discussed amendments and adopted the bill in the second hearing and in entirety.
The Chairman explained the situation concerning some mass media reporting that the Ukrainian Party did not participate in the meeting of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.