08.06.2026
These and other topical issues relating to constitutional justice were discussed by the Acting Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Oleksandr Petryshyn, and the Court’s judges Oleksandr Vodiannikov, Oksana Hryshchuk, Viktor Kychun, Vasyl Lemak, Alla Oliinyk, Oleg Pervomayskyi, and Galyna Yurovska during working meetings with representatives of the Constitutional Court of Belgium, the Court of Cassation of Belgium, and the European Committee of Social Rights, which took place from 27 to 31 May 2026 in Brussels, Belgium.
As part of the visit, a professional discussion took place with Pierre Nihoul, President of the Constitutional Court of Belgium; Josephine Moerman, President of the Constitutional Court of Belgium; and judges of the Court, Danny Pieters and Yasmine Kherbache. During the meeting, the participants discussed the key principles governing the activities of the constitutional courts of both states, their role in ensuring the supremacy of the Constitution, protecting human rights, and maintaining the constitutional balance in a democratic state. The focus was on the exchange of experience regarding the application of social guarantees in constitutional proceedings, particularly in the areas of the right to social protection, labour rights and ensuring the proportionality of state intervention in the social sphere.
The delegation from the Constitutional Court of Ukraine held a working meeting with Eric de Formanoir, President of the Court of Cassation of Belgium, Bruno Litaert and Eva Van Hoorde, judges of the Court of Cassation of Belgium, and Advocate General Henri Vanderlinden. The participants focused on the current challenges of applying the European Social Charter in judicial practice, the effectiveness of judicial protection of social rights, the alignment of national approaches with European standards, and the importance of inter-institutional dialogue.
The programme of the visit also included a meeting with a member of the European Committee of Social Rights, attended by Olivier De Schutter, during which the jurisprudence of constitutional courts and other constitutional review bodies of the member states of the European Social Charter regarding the application of the European Committee of Social Rights’ case law was discussed. Particular attention was paid to the practice of the European Committee of Social Rights regarding the interpretation of the Charter as a “living instrument”, as well as the Committee’s latest conclusions and decisions concerning Ukraine.
The final stage of the visit was an expert discussion involving Alla Fedorova, a national consultant to the Council of Europe and a national expert in the European Union’s MoveS network of experts, dedicated to the practice of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the field of social rights protection in the context of European integration, during which the importance of ensuring constitutional guarantees, taking European standards into account, and maintaining a balance between the state’s response to contemporary challenges and the duty to respect, protect and guarantee human rights was emphasised.
These events were organised within the framework of the Council of Europe project “Further Support for Constitutional Justice Reforms in Ukraine”, implemented under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine 2023–2026 “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction”. They aimed to deepen professional dialogue in the field of the protection of social rights and to promote the exchange of experience between the constitutional courts of Ukraine and the Kingdom of Belgium, particularly regarding the application of the case law of the European Committee of Social Rights.
