Weekly analytics for 28 September — 3 October 2022
Political Points of the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform include a weekly expert analysis of the most important process in Ukraine in areas of constitutionalism, political parties and elections, governance and public administration reform, judiciary, combating corruption, criminal justice, etc.
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Event
On September 28, the Ethics Council conducted interviews with the last candidates for the High Council of Justice (hereinafter – HCJ) under the quota of the Congress of Judges. According to the Ethics Council’s calculations, the total number of candidates who passed the interview and continued to participate in the selection process is 48. Currently, the council is working on making decisions based on the selection results and preparing a list of candidates recommended for appointment.
CPLR’s assessment
As of the beginning of October, there are only 7 members of the HCJ, two of which were elected by the congress of judges in March 2021, and one was appointed by the President of Ukraine in September 2019. Three members of the HCJ were elected in August 2022 with the Ethics Council’s participation. Thus, currently there are 14 positions in the HCJ remains vacant (8 under the quota of judges, 2 positions each under the quotas of lawyers and prosecutors, and one position each under the quotas of scholars and the President).
If the congress of judges completely fills its quota in the HCJ, this will allow the council to resume most of its powers. At the same time, for the HCJ’s stable operation, it is critically important to ensure the quotas also filled by other subjects. Activity on this direction is already in progress, as competitions for the HCJ under the quotas of lawyers and prosecutors have been announced. Furthermore, on September 28, the HCJ applied with a request to the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine to contribute toward speedy address of the issue of specifying the date and place for continuing the Congress of representatives of legal higher educational institutions and scientific institutions, where one more the HCJ’s member may be elected.