18 September, 2024
On 17 September 2024, Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Viktor Gorodovenko and Acting Head of the Legal Directorate of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Mykola Grytsenko, as part of the Ukrainian delegation, took part in the second EU-Ukraine bilateral meeting within the framework of the screening of the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the EU acquis, which is taking place on 17-19 September 2024 in Brussels.
Representatives of Ukraine delivered their presentations.
According to the agenda, screening Chapter 23 “Judiciary and Fundamental Rights” was the main topic of the meeting. Whithin this chapter, Viktor Gorodovenko delivered a presentation on the activities of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (hereinafter, the “Court”).
The judge spoke about the role of the Court as a guardian of the supremacy of the Constitution of Ukraine, the achievements and challenges faced by the Court, the state of affairs with the introduction of a new procedure for the selection of judges, further plans to reform constitutional justice and strengthen the role of constitutional procedure.
Viktor Gorodovenko informed the European Commission representatives about the way to resolve conflicts of interest in constitutional proceedings, about the challenges and gaps in the regulation of the peculiarities of full verification of declarations and monitoring of the lifestyle of the Court's judges.
The judge also noted that for a long time the Court has been functioning with an incomplete composition, which poses a certain threat to its normal functioning. He emphasised that the Advisory Group of Experts has done a great deal of work on assessing the moral qualities and level of competence of candidates for the position of a judge of the Court, however difficulties arise, in particular, due to the lengthy appointment through various appointment procedures.
Viktor Gorodovenko outlined plans to improve the efficiency of the Court's activities and develop constitutional justice in the future. These include, in particular, improving the quality of the Court's interpretation of legal provisions in accordance with European standards in cooperation with legal research institutions and law schools, cooperation with the Venice Commission and other bodies and institutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe, as well as with foreign constitutional bodies.
After the presentation, the Judge of the Court answered questions from the representatives of the European Commission.
In addition, representatives of the Court's Secretariat: Larysa Biriuk, First Deputy Head of the Secretariat – Head of the Organisational Work Department,
Mariana Haiovska-Kovbasiuk, Head of the Department of Communications of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and International Cooperation, Viacheslav Herheliinyk, Deputy Head of the Legal Directorate – Head of the Department for Constitutional Complaints Processing, Olha Pohrebniak, Deputy Head of the Legal Directorate – Head of the Constitutional Petitions and Constitutional Appeals Processing Department, Svitlana Yurchenko, Chief Consultant of the Comparative Research Division of the Comparative Legal Analysis Department of the Legal Directorate, who were involved in the preparation of written responses to the European Commission in Brussels, also took part in the bilateral Ukraine-EU meeting online.
It was a joint effort aimed at representing the Court and Ukraine internationally as a future EU member state.
Інформує відділ комунікацій КСУ та правового моніторингу
