Ukraine

Talks between Experts of the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine and the Federal Administrative Court

Based on its more than 20 years of cooperation, the IRZ is implementing a five-pillar programme to promote the rule of law in Ukraine, supported by the Federal Foreign Office. Despite the extremely difficult domestic and international political conditions, the implementation of the programme has already been started. The programme covers issues of the constitutional and judicial reform, public law and criminal law as well as the fight against corruption, above all in the judiciary. The working visit of the representatives of the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine, which took place from 25 to 28 November 2014, also continued a long-standing cooperation in establishing an administrative jurisdiction in Ukraine. Issues of protecting judicial independence and the necessary consolidation of an understanding of real independence by all parties played an important role during the expert talks, in particular against the background of the experiences gained in recent years and the current reform efforts.

In this context, the highly topical problem of the so-called lustration of civil service members and the judiciary as a whole were discussed. The judiciary will be reviewed as of early December 2014, including the Supreme Administrative Court, based on the requirements of the respective law. This review is certainly necessary in many cases but still has to be carried out in a reasonable way, bearing the principle of proportionality in mind. Another topical aspect was the effort of some forces in Ukraine to dissolve the administrative jurisdiction again and to integrate it into ordinary jurisdiction. An integration of commercial jurisdiction may be expedient; the dissolution of the administrative jurisdiction, however, which has been in existence for about a decade, would have to be considered as a drawback. Rather, more attention should be paid to developing the administrative courts further into an instrument capable of effectively and efficiently reviewing the activities of the state. For this purpose, they have to be truly independent and under no external influence at all, in order to contribute to a law-abiding conduct on the part of the executive.

The delegation was headed by the Court President Mr Netschytailo, who was only re-elected in June this year. They were received by the Vice-President of the Federal Administrative Court Dr Christ and the IRZ Deputy Director Dr Hülshörster. The meetings were also attended by the Presiding Judges Prof Dr Rubel and Mr Neumann as well as the Judges Prof Dr Kraft and Mr Steinkühler.