On Jan. 25 PACE supported a resolution on Functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine. According to the text of the document Ukraine succeeded in legal and regulatory changes required for reforms. At the same time, the Assembly expressed its concern about slow progress in the fight against corruption. 106 deputies of the Council of Europe supported the resolution, 11 were against, and 9 abstained.
The Parliamentary Assembly mentioned progress in constitutional and judicial reforms: adoption of constitutional amendments removing obstacles to judiciary system reform according to the standards of the Council of Europe; cancellation of general supervision of Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office that contradicted European norms.
Special attention was paid to electoral legislation of Ukraine. Thus, it was offered to accept a Unified Election Code providing a proportional electoral system. The Assembly expressed its concern about the fact that Article 81 of the Constitution of Ukraine allows for the dismissal of a member of parliament who switches his/her allegiance to a party or faction other than the one in respect of which he/she was elected. For the same reasons, the Assembly urged the Verkhovna Rada to abrogate the recent amendments to the law on the election of people’s deputies that allow political parties to ex post facto change the 2016 party lists of candidates.
According to the text of the resolution level of corruption in Ukraine remains high, corruption fight process is too slow, and concrete results are limited. Absence of noticeable progress could reduce public confidence in political and judicial system as a whole.
Introduction of an electronic declaration system and adoption of a law on civil service were mentioned among the positive steps which had been taken in order to fight corruption. At the same time, PACE recommended to establish a special anti-corruption court to fight corruption in the judiciary system.