Rada committee approves bill violating Western guidelines, critics say

The parliamentary legal policy committee has approved
the text to a bill on forming the Higher Qualifications Commission of Judges of
Ukraine that contradicts the recommendations of Ukraine’s Western partners,
Mykhaylo Zhernakov, the board chairman of the DEJURE Foundation, wrote on his
Facebook page on Jan. 27. These partners include the IMF, the European
Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), and the ambassadors of G7 and EU
countries, Zhernakov wrote. If the bill is approved by parliament, “not only
can judicial reform be forgotten about, but also Western support,” he wrote.
“This will be a spit in the face of our closest international partners that
have invested quite an amount of effort in anti-corruption and reforming the
courts,” he wrote. Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Action Centre confirmed that
the mentioned bill (#3711) gives the Higher Justice Council the key role in
selecting the members of the Higher Qualifications Commission of Judges.

Zenon Zawada: This
particular committee is led by People’s Servant MP Andriy Kostin, who has
pro-Russian leanings having been elected to a single-mandate district in Odesa,
and his first deputy, Vasyl Nimchenko, a member of the Putin-aligned Opposition
Platform For Life party. So it comes as no surprise that it would approve such
a bill. However, the President’s Office has acted to prevent measures
pursued by its pro-Russian MPs that threaten Western funding, and we expect
that to happen in this case. There are enough pro-Western MPs in The
People’s Servant faction to prevent this bill’s approval as well.

The significant presence of Russian-leanings MPs in
the parliament is the inevitable result of electing a populist party like The
People’s Servant. We can only expect such legislation to continue to be
drafted, along with ongoing gridlock in Euro-Atlantic integration, for as long
as Russia pressures the Ukrainian public towards capitulation. Election results
and poll ratings have shown
that the longer the aggression is extended, the more Ukrainians are willing to
elect the pro-Putin politicians who can bring an end to war through surrender.