On 17 and 18 February, bilateral talks were held in Brno between justices of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic and justices of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Although representatives of both judicial institutions have met repeatedly at international conferences and other international forums, this was the first strictly bilateral meeting.

The Ukrainian delegation was led by the Acting Chairman and most senior justice of the Constitutional Court, Oleksandr Petryshyn, and consisted of six other justices. The two-day meeting was opened by the President of the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic Josef Baxa. In addition to welcoming the guests, he devoted his speech to presenting the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic from a historical and contemporary perspective. He then gave the floor to his Ukrainian counterpart, who thanked him for the warm welcome and introduced his Czech colleagues to the role and powers of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court and its functioning in the complex situation of war caused by Russian aggression in Ukraine. 

The working sessions focused on specific issues related to constitutional justice. The topics discussed included the professional ethics of justices and their disciplinary responsibility, recusal of justices from court proceedings and decision-making, the methodology of preparing court decisions, and the relationship between national law and European Union law. On Wednesday afternoon, the Ukrainian delegation also met with representatives of the Constitutional Court´s staff, namely the head of the judicial department, the head of the external relations and protocol department, and the press secretary. They discussed practical issues, specifically case management system and its digitization, the internal structure of the court, and communication with the public and the media.

The working sessions filled almost the entire program of the two-day visit. Nevertheless, the guests toured the Constitutional Court building, including the library, the Assembly Hall where plenary judgments are pronounced, and the court rooms where senate judgments are pronounced.

Pavel Dvořák
Head of External Relations and Protocol Department