May 2, 2024
On May 2, 2024, the Advisory Group of Experts held a meeting at which made a decision on the assessment of competence in the field of law of candidates for the position of judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Before voting Secretary of the AGE, Yaroslav Romaniuk, said that the Advisory Group of Experts collected and studied a significant scope of materials on the candidates, and on April 5 conducted a written assignment and received the candidates' answers to written questions on constitutional issues.
In his turn, the Chairman of the AGE Ales Zalar noted that the AGE has assessed the compliance with the criterion of recognized level of competence in the field of law of all eight candidates for the position of judge of the CCU and can proceed to voting.
As a result, the rate "compliant" with the criterion a recognized level of competence in the field of law received the following candidates for the position of judge of the Constitutional Court, admitted to the competition by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine:
- Yurii Barabash
- Oleksandr Vodiannikov
- Serhii Riznyk
At the same time, the rest of the candidates admitted to the competition by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine received the rate "non-compliant" and stopped their further participation in the competitive selection. These candidates are:
- Nataliia Denysenko
- Taras Tsymbalistyi
- Roman Yaromenok
According to the quota of the Congress of Judges of Ukraine, the rate "compliant" with the criterion of recognized level of competence in the field of law received the following candidates for the position of judge of the Constitutional Court:
- Alla Oliinyk
- Oleksandra Yanovska
According to this decision, the candidate Nataliia Denysenko received the rate "non-compliant" and stopped her further participation in the competitive selection.
After the voting, Secretary of the AGE Yaroslav Romaniuk briefly summarized the situation with the competitions that were announced for 5 vacant positions in the fall of 2023, and noted:
"Only three candidates who were admitted to the competition by the Parliament passed through the sieve of the AGE.
In view of the minimum permissible competition for the position, this means that these three candidates will be recommended for election to one of the three vacant positions according to the quota of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
At the same time, competitions for two other vacant positions of CCU judges under the Parliament's quota should be re-announced due to the insufficient number of candidates to continue the competitive selection for these vacant positions".
He reminded that according to the Law of Ukraine "On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine", at any stage of the selection there should be at least two candidates for one vacant position.
Yaroslav Romaniuk also added that the Advisory Group will officially inform Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine about this, so that it can immediately take the necessary measures to re-announce competitions.
At the end of the meeting, the Chairman of the AGE Ales Zalar drew the attention of the candidates and the public to the fact that the Advisory Group will form a general list of all evaluated candidates regarding those who received the rate "compliant" with the criterion of high moral qualities and a recognized level of competence in the field of law.
"Subsequently, the Advisory Group will conduct a rating vote on them and form a rating list of them according to the number of votes received from the AGE – from the highest (6 votes for) to the lowest result (0 votes for)”, – said the Chairman of the AGE.
Alesh Zalar said that the AGE plans to form a ranking list of candidates as soon as possible and hand it over to the appointment bodies for the immediate implementation of all further actions necessary for the appointment of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
“This is extremely important, because delaying the appointment of judges to vacant positions may complicate the activity of the entire Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Therefore, the AGE calls on all parties responsible for this process to consolidate and ensure plenipotentiary of the CCU, and hence the stability of its functioning", – he emphasized.
At the same time, the AGE called on all professional lawyers to submit their candidacies for the vacant positions of judges of the CCU, in particular for the re-competition for the quota of the Congress of Judges of Ukraine and future re-competitions for the quota of the Parliament.
