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MEDIA RELEASE |
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Communications |
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Ref. DC 136(2023) Ukraine: Legislation on de-oligarchisation, National Minorities and Constitutional Court Reform in the spotlight of the Venice Commission’s June Plenary Session Strasbourg, 13.06.2023 – At its 135th Plenary Session held on 9-10 June 2023, the Venice Commission adopted three new opinions related to Ukraine. One opinion concerns the prevention of threats to national security, associated with excessive influence of persons having significant economic or political weight in public life, often referred to as oligarchs. Most countries use a set of interconnected measures to prevent the disruptive effects on democracy, the rule of law and human rights by the concentration of such influence in the hands of a few, Ukraine tackles the destructive influence of “oligarchisation” through a “personal approach”, with its Law on Oligarchs. While the Venice Commission recognises that in exceptional, extremely critical situations, for example a situation of state capture, radical solutions could be justified, the measures proposed by the Law on Oligarchs raise strong concerns about their compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights and are difficult to reconcile with principles of political pluralism and the rule of law. The Venice Commission therefore concludes that the Law should not be implemented as it currently stands and that instead a “systemic” approach be pursued. Recommendations for such an approach include the following: · Carry out a comprehensive analysis of existing systemic measures, of their shortcomings in terms of structure powers and coordination; · Establish and implement an effective competition policy; · Strengthen the fight against high-level corruption and the prevention of corruption, in line with GRECO’s recommendations and through implementation of the actions foreseen in the State Anti-Corruption Programme adopted in March 2023; · Increase transparency of and accountability in public procurement; · Reinforce media pluralism, as well as transparency of media ownership; · Enhance the implementation of anti-money laundering related measures, including transparency of legal persons and arrangements and timely and effective access to accurate up-to-date beneficial ownership information, in line with MONEYVAL and FATF recommendations; · Reinforce rules on the financing of political parties and election campaigns and existing control mechanisms; · Amend tax legislation; · Strengthen the independence and effectiveness of key regulatory and controlling authorities; · Carry out impact assessments of such measures at regular intervals. For such measures to be effective, the Venice Commission also recommends ensuring judicial independence, integrity and impartiality in line with European standards. In a second opinion, the Venice Commission welcomes the adoption of a long-expected Law on National Minorities, which provides guarantees in conformity with international standards. However, to ensure full conformity with such standards, some provisions of that Law should be reconsidered. In the regard, key recommendations include the following: Concerning the law on national minorities (communities): · To extend the right to organise events in minority languages to all persons; · To remove the obligation to provide for interpretation into Ukrainian of information on public events at the request of visitors (spectators), or at least to reconsider it in the light of the principle of proportionality; · To ensure more legal certainty regarding the possibility to have official and general information translated in a minority language; · To provide criteria in the law itself for the use of minority languages in contact with administrative authorities, in conformity with Article 10 of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and Article 10 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Furthermore, the Venice Commission makes the following recommendations on other laws it already assessed, and which are referred to explicitly or implicitly by the Law on national minorities (communities): · To reconsider the provisions in other laws containing limitations of the freedom to use the minority language and differential treatments of the minority languages, in the light of the previous Opinions of the Venice Commission (subject, if necessary, to a transitional period until the end of martial law); · To properly ensure the right to access to mass media in minority languages; · To further postpone the gradual transformation of the minority language school-system and to reconsider it in the light of the 2017 Opinion the Venice Commission. In the third, follow-up, opinion on the procedure of selecting candidates for the position of judge of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court on a competitive basis, the Venice Commission assessed the draft amendments prepared by the Ukrainian authorities, in the light of its previous recommendations concerning, in particular, the composition and decision-making models of the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE), an independent body with the task of assessing the integrity and professional competence of candidates for the position of judge of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court. . Noting the exemplary willingness of the Ukrainian authorities and civil society to implement its recommendations despite the war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Venice Commission recommended removing the effects of the ranking of candidates on the order of voting by the Council of Judges, and clarifying the provisions of the draft law regarding the publication and challenging of the AGE decisions. The Commission concluded that its previous key recommendations have been followed and noted that once the amendments are adopted by the Ukrainian Parliament, it will proceed with the submission of proposed candidates for the position of one member and one substitute member of the AGE. |
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Press Contact |
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Panos Kakaviatos, Spokesperson/Media officer, Tel. +33 6 98 37 64 04 |
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Council of Europe, Media Assistance Unit |
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