On January 31 – February 01, 2025, a joint strategic session of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and the Public Integrity Council was held in Kyiv with the support of the EU Pravo-Justice Project to agree on mechanisms of cooperation in the selection of honest and qualified personnel to join the judiciary.
The event was opened by the Head of the Good Governance and Rule of Law Section of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, Asier Santillan Luzuriaga. He stressed the continuation of reforms in Ukraine and the strengthening of justice institutions. Ukraine is at the beginning of negotiations with the EU on European integration, in particular in the Rule of Law cluster, so it is important to demonstrate commitment to the fundamental principles.
Andrii Pasichnyk, the Chairman of the HQCJU, noted that it is necessary to develop an algorithm for interaction between the two bodies in order to overcome common challenges in the future.
“This event is relevant given the competition to the courts of appeal. I am confident that we will be able to develop joint algorithms and conduct the interview stage of the competition quickly and efficiently. This is a serious challenge for all of us, because there are many candidates and little time to process their dossiers and conduct quality interviews,” – said Andrii Pasichnyk.
The session also touched upon the issue of the parties’ overall capacities and their optimization.
“Despite the different views and backgrounds of the two institutions, we share a common goal – to make the judicial system of Ukraine more transparent, accountable to the public and in line with European standards. Therefore, we are pleased to have the opportunity to discuss problematic issues in a sincere and frank manner and find common solutions,” – said PIC Co-coordinator Oleh Yakymiak.
The Commission member Vitalii Gatseliuk emphasized the development of a common position on improving the legal status and capacity of the PIC in the context of Ukraine’s ongoing integration into the EU, including in the framework of the preparation of the Rule of Law Roadmap.
According to Commission member Ruslan Sydorovych, it is important to ensure the joint capacity of the HQCJU and the PIC to complete the interviews for the competition to the appeal courts by the end of 2025, given the particularly acute shortage of judges in the general courts of appeal. He also emphasized that the completion of this competition by the end of this year is stipulated by Ukraine’s international obligations within the framework of European integration.
PIC member Olha Piskunova spoke about the algorithm of the Council’s work with judicial dossiers: analysis of materials, communication with the judge, voting, sending the conclusion/decision to the HQCJU.
They also discussed the implementation of the procedure for PIC access to the dossiers. According to Commission member Roman Sabodash, interviews for the competition to the courts of appeal will begin in early May 2025. The Commission plans to approve the schedule of interviews with the candidates in advance and provide it to the PIC to agree on all the nuances before the interviews begin.
According to Andrii Pasichnyk, interviews as part of the qualification evaluation procedure for judges should be productive and transparent, while being understandable to judges and the public.
According to the member of the Commission Ruslan Melnyk, the format of such events allows summarizing and analyzing the problematic issues that have accumulated during the cooperation between the PIC and the HQCJU, identifying priority tasks in order to optimize the available resources for simultaneous competitive procedures and qualification evaluation of judges for their suitability for the positions, which is a real challenge.
During the session, the participants discussed controversial issues related to the standards of integrity and professional ethics of judges (judicial candidates), as well as controversial cases of judges and candidates’ evaluation. Considerable attention was paid to access to judicial dossiers and information exchange.
