Since the adoption of the Public Prosecution Service Law of Ukraine 2014, important initiatives were undertaken to advance the reform of the prosecution service and to transform it into an institution compliant with the European standards. Among others, it can be mentioned the 2016 constitutional amendments, realignment of the prosecutorial functions with the Council of Europe standards, as well as the set-up of the prosecutorial self-governing and qualification/disciplinary bodies. The establishment of these institutions took place in mid-2017 and was an important milestone in the reform, given the role these bodies play in ensuring prosecutorial independence and effectiveness of their work.

Following these developments and in view of the long-term cooperation with the Council of Europe, a high-level visit for the Ukrainian delegation was organised to the Council of Europe’s Headquarters on 17 December 2018 with the purpose of discussing the progress, challenges and future perspectives of the prosecution reform in line with the Council of Europe standards. The Ukrainian delegation was led by the Prosecutor General, Mr Yuriy Lutsenko, and consisted of the representatives of the General Prosecutor’s Office, members of the Council of Prosecutors of Ukraine and the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of Prosecutors. 

The meetings started with the round table opened by Mr Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe and by Ambassador Dmytro Kuleba, Permanent Representative of Ukraine before the Council of Europe. In his welcoming speech, Mr Christos Giakoumopoulos commended the recent developments in the area of the implementation of the public prosecution service reform and called upon the continued need to implement the remaining Council of Europe recommendations. The Prosecutor General, Mr Yuriy Lutsenko, praised the Council of Europe’s long-standing support to the reform. He underlined that despite the challenges there is a strong will from the Ukrainian side to work further towards the results. “Where there is a will – there is a way forward”, - the Prosecutor General said.

Among the core issues addressed during the round table, moderated by Mr Regis Brillat, Special Advisor of the Council of Europe’s Secretary General for Ukraine, were topics of independence of prosecutors, effective functioning of prosecutorial self-governance and effective delineation of functions between different law enforcement institutions as a result of the reform and in the context of the set-up of new investigation bodies in Ukraine, institutional reform of the prosecution service. During the round table the Ukrainian delegation exchanged with the secretary of the Venice Commission, executive secretary of the GRECO, Heads of the Justice and Legal Cooperation Department and the Department for the Execution of the European Court’s Judgments.

The visit provided the opportunity for bilateral meetings of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General with the Council of Europe high-level representatives, including the Deputy Secretary General, Human Rights Commissioner, Director General Human Rights and Rue of Law. During the intensive day, the delegation also had a chance to exchange views with the Section Registrar and Ukrainian lawyers of the European Court of Human Rights.

All participants to the meetings reiterated their commitment to continuing the improvement of the prosecution service in Ukraine, in particular the strengthening the legal framework and the set-up of prosecutorial self-governance, as well as the enhancement of transparency and accountability of the prosecution service with a view to achieving public confidence in the institution.

The high-level visit was organised within the frames of the Council of Europe Project "Continued Support to the Criminal Justice Reform in Ukraine", funded by the Danish government.