European integration and advocacy: development of the institution through constructive dialogue

Today, unfortunately, there are many pseudo-experts who are confidently undertaking to reform the institution of the bar. At the same time, they are unwilling to study the issue from the inside and deliberately ignore the disastrous consequences of their initiatives for the country.

This was emphasized by Lidiya Izovitova, the President of the Ukrainian National Bar Association and the Bar Council of Ukraine, during a regular meeting of the Bar Council, which is taking place today, December 13, in Lviv region.

We must remember that the Law on the Bar and Practice of Law, adopted in 2012, was one of the laws that allowed us to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union. Our current law embodies the European standards of legal profession and bar self-government. And with its adoption, Ukraine fulfilled its international obligations to the Council of Europe.

The President of the UNBA thanked her colleagues who publicly defend the independence of the Bar and ensure its evolutionary development.

L. Izovitova noted the speech of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Minister of Justice Olga Stefanishyna in the Verkhovna Rada, when she emphasized the need to establish cooperation between the Ministry and the legal community.

Another important message she delivered was that the rule of law roadmaps being prepared as part of Ukraine's EU accession negotiations should include the abandonment of competitions and the appointment of positions based on integrity assessments by international experts as a sign that Ukraine has built a stable, strong, democratic system of state institutions.

In this regard, it is important that on April 6, 2025, the Bar Council of Ukraine becomes a subject of the formation of a competition commission, which is formed to hold a competition for the position of a member of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and to form a list of candidates for the position of a member of the HQCJ. Today, taking into account the transitional provisions of the Law «On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges», this commission is formed and operates with the participation of international experts.