High Qualification Commission of Judges members appointed, fulfilling key EU requirement

The High Council of Justice has appointed the authorized composition of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine. This decision "unblocked the work of the key body for the formation of the judicial corps," the HCJ said in a statement.

It is noted that this will make it possible to select judges for vacant positions and complete the qualification assessment of judges.

HCJ reports about "over 2,000" vacant positions for judges.

According to the results of the interviews of 32 candidates, the HCJ appointed 16 members of the commission.

The appointment of the members of the HQCJ is one of the seven conditions of the European Commission to Ukraine, which were put forward when Ukraine was given the status of a candidate for EU membership.

The resumption of the commission's work has been hailed by Hryhoriy Usyk, the head of HCJ, as a "significant step" towards rebuilding public trust in the judiciary.

"We all understand that without access to justice, stable and democratic development of the state is impossible. The updated composition of the HQCJ faces many challenges that must be resolved," he said.

The members of the HQCJ include: Lyudmyla Volkova, Vitaliy Hatselyuk, Yaroslav Dukh, Nadiya Kobetska, Ruslan Melnyk, Andriy Pasichnyk, Roman Sabodash, Ruslan Sydorovych, Mykhailo Bohonis, Roman Ihnatov, Roman Kydysyuk, Oleh Koliush, Volodymyr Luhanskyi, Oleksiy Omelyan, Serhiy Chumak, Halyna Shevchuk.

The High Qualification Commission of Judges is a permanent body of the judicial system. The commission is responsible for forming the corps of judges, transferring judges and ensuring their proper qualification level.

On June 23, 2022, Ukraine received the status of a candidate state for joining the European Union.

On April 3, 2023, RFE/RL reported that the European Commission would recommend starting negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.