EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and European Commissioner Štefan Füle following the outcome of the review by Ukraine’s Higher Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases of the verdict against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, stressed the importance for the Ukrainian authorities to redress the effects of selective justice. This would also require implementation of further judicial reform steps. At the same time, the European Commission published a call for proposals for projects to support justice sector reforms in Ukraine.

Following the outcome of the review by Ukraine’s Higher Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases of the verdict against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko presented on 30 of August, Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, and Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, made a joint statement in which they regret that the consequences of the current situation will prevent two important leaders of the opposition from standing in parliamentary elections following trials which did not respect international standards as regards fair, transparent and independent legal processes. They underlined the need for implementation of further judicial reform steps in Ukraine.

At the same time, the European Commission published a call for proposals for Ukraine with the aim to contribute to strengthening of the rule of law in this country. At the Ukrainian Government request, the project will focus on criminal justice-related reforms. It should address a clear need for a fast progress on urgently necessary reform based on a consolidated view of the reforms shared by all justice sector stakeholders.

The specific objectives of this call for proposals include to align major sector stakeholders' policies and reform priorities in a coherent sector-wide reform strategy, supported by an implementation plan and a multi-annual financing programme secured by a Government's decision and agreed with the Presidential administration; to create a viable sector coordination structure; to provide expertise for key outstanding legislation like e. g. the new law on the Prosecutor's Office.