No sooner had things calmed down around the scandal that erupted at a recent Cabinet meeting (it will be recalled that the ministers “slashed down” Viktor Yushchenko’s right to issue instructions to the Cabinet of Ministers) than parliament hit upon a new idea aimed at restricting the rights of the Constitution guarantor.
This time it was the Party of Regions MP Sviatoslav Piskun who suggested revising and curtailing the head of state’s rights. Having assumed the office of deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee for the legal coverage of law-enforcement, the ex-prosecutor-general spoke out for restricting the right of the President of Ukraine to appoint judges.
Piskun points out, in particular, that, as law-enforcement and judicial bodies are being reformed, judges should be appointed — for the first five years — by the Verkhovna Rada rather than by the head of state. “Taking into account the essence of political reform and the fact that we are a parliamentary- presidential republic, it is necessary to limit the right of the president to appoint judges,” Piskun said.
In the ex-prosecutor-general’s view, the president should not also appoint (and, hence, dismiss) court chairmen. It is logical, according to Piskun, to transfer this right to a collective body, i.e., parliament.
Piskun is convinced that what can be an alternative to the president in this case is, in addition to the Verkhovna Rada, a system under which the judges of a court could elect their own chairman by themselves. Besides, Piskun criticized the fresh attempt of the government to reform the judicial branch of power and law-enforcement bodies in Ukraine.
“If the president or his staff really want to carry out the reform in deed, not in word, they should conduct sort of a public poll about this reform, put this question to a roundtable debate, and consult experts,” Piskun explained.
The MP predicts that the judicial and law-enforcement reforms, as well as busting corruption and solving high-profile crimes, may “be drowned in chattering.” Piskun also added that “it is an open secret today that judicial, law-enforcement and prosecuting bodies are liable to corruption.” So the new government’s aim is “to minimize it” and. to do so, “one must listen to what experts say.”
It will be recalled that the Verkhovna Rada is going to discuss reformation of Ukraine’s judicial system after the parliament “radically changes its style of work.” This view was expressed by Speaker Oleksandr Moroz. The latter is convinced that the judicial and juridical reforms are really necessary, so the parliament’s schedule envisions a number of legislative acts in this field. Yet it is tentatively planned to effect far-embracing changes in the sphere of justice and law-enforcement some time in the next year.
Meanwhile, the president announced the beginning of these two reforms as long ago as last December. The head of state said then that he was expecting the parliament to help and support him in the solution of this problem. By all accounts, Piskun took the president’s words too literally because he, deputy head of a key parliamentary committee, instead of helping the president by drafting laws, decided to strip the head of state of what he considers “excessive” power to appoint judges.
The president has not yet announced his attitude to the ex-prosecutor-general’s initiative. Apparently, Viktor Yushchenko is busy doing something else. The head of state is going one of these days on a routine visit to Azerbaijan. According to the president’s press service, in the course of the visit Yushcheko will discuss as new route for the transportation of Caspian oil in the Baku-Odesa- Brody-Plock direction.
