Kyiv seeks cancellation of Council of Europe monitoring

Ukraine is closer to fulfilling its obligations to the Council of Europe. Kyiv has repeatedly stated that PACE monitoring will be lifted after the adoption of a number of laws, the latest of which is on the prosecutor’s office. Today his project was sent to the Venice Commission. However, experts are confident that Strasbourg will refuse to remove monitoring, since a lot of other problems have arisen in Ukraine in recent years.

Photo: Dmitry Brushko, Kommersant / buy photo

The presidential administration has completed the preparation of the law “On the Prosecutor’s Office” and will send it to the Venice Commission by the end of the day - presidential adviser Andrei Portnov said this in an interview with Kommersant (see today's issue ). The draft law was prepared taking into account the recommendations of the Council of Europe, so it is highly likely that the Venice Commission’s response to this document will be predominantly positive. Its adoption by the Verkhovna Rada and signing by the president is expected in the fall.

Prosecutor's office reform is one of Ukraine's key obligations to the European Union (in preparation for the signing of an association agreement) and the Council of Europe. However, if in the list of EU requirements, even after the implementation of this item, there are many other unrealized items, then in relations with the Council of Europe this law is of key importance.

Earlier, representatives of official Kyiv have repeatedly noted that Ukraine remains to fulfill three obligations taken upon acquiring membership in the Council of Europe. According to the head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, MP Ivan Popescu (Party of Regions), the main requirement that will allow us to discuss the removal of PACE monitoring is the adoption of the Criminal Procedure Code, laws on the legal profession and the prosecutor's office. The first two laws were adopted and entered into force in 2012. Thus, the reform of the prosecutor's office system remained Ukraine's last key commitment to the Council of Europe.

Meanwhile, experts believe that the successful passage of the presidential bill “On the Prosecutor’s Office” through the Verkhovna Rada will not allow the removal of monitoring from Ukraine. “I am deeply convinced that the monitoring procedure will not be abandoned even if Ukraine fully fulfills all three obligations, confirmed by Strasbourg,” former member of the Parliamentary Assembly, ex-head of its monitoring committee Sergei Golovaty told Kommersant.

According to Mr. Golovaty, the monitoring committee of the assembly inevitably notes a deterioration in the situation in other areas, which makes it necessary to continue monitoring. “In terms of implementation of Ukraine

According to the standards of the Council of Europe, the situation has deteriorated significantly: with freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, respect for human rights,” he noted. Also a problem is the deterioration in the level of implementation by Kiev of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights: as Kommersant reported, in 2013 difficulties arose even with the payment of monetary compensation (see Kommersant of July 30 ), and the implementation of general measures has not improved - in particular , requirements of the ECHR to change the legislative framework.

Sergey Sidorenko

Ukraine goes out of surveillance