President of Ukraine

President of Ukraine: Justice reform and anticorruption reform will soon be accelerated

18 October 2021 - 21:50

President of Ukraine: Justice reform and anticorruption reform will soon be accelerated

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that in the near future the anticorruption bodies of Ukraine will resume their work in full, as well as the implementation of judicial reform will be accelerated and the Constitutional Court will be rebooted. The President said this in an interview for ICTV in the framework of the Freedom of Speech program.

In particular, according to the President, steps will be taken in the near future to fully implement the anticorruption reform.

"There are challenges, some delays, but today, with some changes in the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada, we will speed up the voting in the second reading of the law on the National Anticorruption Bureau," he said, expressing confidence that given coordinated work of deputies the law will be adopted in the next plenary week.

In addition, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that the competition for the election of a new Head of the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor's Office will be completed soon.

"We have worked a little, and I think that in the coming days this Commission (Commission for the election of the Head of the SAP - ed.) will have a meeting. We will also complete the competition, and we will finally get a SAP prosecutor,” the President said.

The Head of State also stressed that judicial reform in Ukraine has been hampered for many years, but there are significant changes in this direction now. In particular, the Verkhovna Rada has already passed laws on the High Qualification Commission of Judges and the High Council of Justice.

According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the reform of Ukraine's judicial system has received positive reviews from the leadership of the European Union institutions.

At the same time, according to the President, there is some resistance to the reform within the judiciary. Thus, the Supreme Court appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the constitutionality of the law on the procedure for electing and appointing HCJ members. However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is convinced that now the CCU will not block the judicial reform.

According to him, the Constitutional Court itself will be rebooted soon.

"The Constitutional Court will be rebooted as soon as its composition is completely renewed. We were waiting for representatives from the Verkhovna Rada. This did not happen. This will definitely happen in the coming weeks, and then the CCU law will be passed. Now the process is underway," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President stressed that, in addition to the law on NABU and the law on the reform of the Security Service of Ukraine, there were delays in the adoption of other important bills due to certain "influential people".

"I am confident that now we will speed up this process," Volodymyr Zelenskyy summed up.