Coalition Agreement for Parliament of Ukraine Signed

On November 30, 2014, five factions in the Parliament of Ukraine signed the coalition agreement. The agreement’s text contains commitments for implementation of reforms. In particular, the coalition agreement envisions the following with respect to judicial reform:

1) introducing competitive selection for all judicial positions;

2) commitment to remove political authorities from deciding on judges’ career issues;

3) reforming the composition of the High Council of Justice in order to provide for the majority of judges elected by their peers;

4) expanding the list of disciplinary sanctions and improving the disciplinary procedure, to be determined by a single law;

5) providing the Supremen Court of Ukraine with effective authority to establish judicial practice;

6) increasing age and experience requirements for judge’s office;

7) establishing a network of courts by a law and simplification of the court system;

8) narrowing judicial immunity to a functional one;

9) introducing modern information technologies in the work of courts in order to enable e-justice;

10) introducing the “single window” principle”.