On January 31, 2024, a working meeting was held between the Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine Roman Ihnatov, the Deputy Chairman of the Commission Ruslan Sydorovych and the Sector Manager for Justice and Anticorruption of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Alban Biaussat, the Country Manager of EU Pravo-Justice Project Oksana Tsymbrivska.
The event was also attended by the Secretary of the First Chamber Ruslan Melnyk, Secretary of the Second Chamber Serhii Chumak, the members of the Commission Vitalii Gatseliuk, Andrii Pasichnyk, Oleksii Omelian, as well as representatives of the Judicial Reform Component of the Project: the Component Lead Volodymyr Chaban, and the Chief National Expert Olha Sribniak.
Alban Biaussat informed the participants about the launch of a new phase of the EU Pravo-Justice Project – “Support to Justice Sector Reforms (Pravo-Justice III)”, which will be implemented in Ukraine from January 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026. In this light, he proposed to discuss a wide range of issues in order to continue the established cooperation between the Commission and the Project.
Roman Ihnatov emphasized the significant role of the European partners and the EU Pravo-Justice Project, in particular, noting the support provided in the previous year.
Ruslan Sydorovych elaborated on the procedures currently being carried out by the HQCJU, as well as outlined the plans and priorities of the Commission in the near future. He informed the partners about the challenges that the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine may face in the future and suggested consolidating efforts to achieve efficient results of potential cooperation between the Commission and the Project.
Oksana Tsymbrivska emphasized the achievements of the HQCJU and noted that the EU Pravo-Justice Project has a clear vision of cooperation with the Commission – strengthening its institutional capacity and supporting it as a key strategic partner.
The participants also discussed the cooperation between the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) in the light of the Commission’s recent appeal to the ambassadors of the G-7 countries.
Roman Ihnatov assured the participants that the Commission is determined to demonstrate high efficiency in conducting the qualification evaluation of judges’ correspondence to the position held together with stakeholders and partners.
“We maintain clear, straightforward and partner relations between the Commission, NABU and NACP. In addition, we have on our agenda the issue of updating memorandums with these agencies, which were agreed by the previous composition of the Commission,” the Chairman of the Commission emphasized.
At the same time, Ruslan Sydorovych noted that the appeal to the ambassadors of the G-7 countries was due to the huge volume of tasks assigned to the NABU and the NACP, their overloadedness, while the Commission is interested in obtaining the necessary information to properly fulfill its duties.
At the end of the meeting, the participants agreed to communicate on a regular basis to discuss current issues and the areas of cooperation in the light of the launch of the new phase of the EU Pravo-Justice Project.
