Conference In Ukraine: Local Government's Response To The Financial Crisis



Alina Tatarenko

A conference discussing the impact of the financial crisis on Ukraine and the response of the country's local government officials starts today (3 December) in Kyiv.

New Venice Commission Visit To Ukraine

Constitutional experts from the Council of Europe will visit Ukraine next week for more talks with the country’s authorities.


The Venice Commission’s team will examine the consequences of a decision by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine which declared unconstitutional the Law on Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine adopted on 8 December 2004 .

Ukraine Urged To Improve Electoral Legislation

Members of a Council of Europe monitoring delegation have expressed concern at a "hastily drafted" electoral law for local and regional elections passed by the Ukrainian Parliament.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities group claimed that the law, passed several weeks before the elections were held.led to shortcomings with regard to the registration of candidates, the composition of electoral commissions, the organisational and the counting of votes on election night.

Venice Commission Reacts To Ukraine's Judicial Changes

Legal experts from the Council of Europe's Venice Commission have delivered two opinions on planned changes to Ukraine's judicial system.

Issues and standards at stake

Among other issues, the opinions assess two main points:

the strongly reduced role of the Supreme Court as compared to the high specialised courts, including the new High Specialised Court in Civil and Criminal matters and

additional powers for the High Council of Justice, which exceed those provided for in the Constitution.

The composition of the High Council of Justice, as provided for in the Constitution, had been criticized in the past by the Commission (CDL-AD(2010)003).