On 24 June, the Agency for Legislative Initiatives (ALI) presented its analytical report ‘Selection Commissions Involving International (Foreign) Experts (Judiciary and the Constitutional Court of Ukraine)’ at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy.
ALI experts focused on whether candidate selection criteria were applied consistently and on the approaches used by selection commissions to assess candidates against those criteria. They presented findings on the commissions’ operating procedures, qualification requirements, scope of powers and evaluation criteria, among other issues.
Denys Maslov, Chairman of the Committee on Legal Policy, noted that some of the study’s proposals aligned with the Committee’s own work in this area, which had been informed by discussions with commission representatives and monitoring of their work. The procedures need improvement, but in most respects this is less about amending the law than about properly applying and implementing provisions that already exist in legislation. Where necessary, however, appropriate legislative amendments may be introduced.
The Agency for Legislative Initiatives emphasises that it is still too early for Ukraine to dispense with the involvement of foreign experts in selection procedures. At present, this is the most appropriate model for the transitional period on the path towards the European Union. At the same time, discussion should continue on improving the overall framework and harmonising the approaches used by selection commissions. Candidate selection criteria should be consistent across all commissions. This would strengthen public trust in selection processes, commission members and their decisions.
During the presentation, participants shared their views on the issues raised in the Report. They also noted that it is the first in-depth study to identify systemic shortcomings in the current selection procedures and propose concrete steps to address them.
Read more about all the issues and recommendations identified by the Agency for Legislative Initiatives in the Report at this link.
