The year of 2023 is coming to an end. It's been a challenging year for all of us but we have persevered and keep on fighting, particularly for our European future. Now it's time to review the results of the outgoing year.
The European Council has recently decided to open negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. This is a truly historic decision. The Ethics Council contributed to it as well because the reform of the High Council of Justice was among the EU requirements that had to be met to open the accession negotiations.
The new HCJ, with all its members checked for compliance with the criteria of professional ethics and integrity, acquired full authority and became operational at the beginning of the year. In January, the 19th Extraordinary Congress of Judges elected 8 HCJ members based on the quota of the judicial community. It brought the number of HCJ members to 15 - the required quorum for this collegial institution.
The Ethics Council also continued to further improve the institutional resilience of the HCJ. In 2022, we assessed HCJ member candidates nominated by the Congress of Academics (2 competitions), the Ukrainian National Conference of Prosecutors, and the President of Ukraine.
As a result, out of 57 candidates assessed by the Ethics Council, 15 met and 25 did not meet the criteria of professional ethics and integrity. Subsequently, three more HCJ members were elected from among them.
We started another competition for the position of HCJ members nominated by the President of Ukraine. The candidates who have expressed their interest to participate in the selection are being vetted with subsequent assessment by the Ethics Council to follow. We will further inform on the progress.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May we all enjoy many victories and the Victory!
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