Lawyers in Ukraine are not ready for lawyer monopoly, it is premature for Ukraine, Vitaliy Savchuk, a lawyer and adviser to Legal Alliance has said.
“I see the lawyer monopoly premature until at least a few of these questions have been answered in the affirmative. The monopoly should be preceded by serious training for lawyers,” he told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Savchuk, the lawyer monopoly does not guarantee that the client will receive high-quality legal services.
“When I first started working as a lawyer, I was surprised when I heard from opponents references to norms that had long ceased to be valid. “Are they more unprofessional or unethical?” I asked myself. Some of them were lawyers. The problem of the lawyer monopoly has always been more philosophical than legal,” he said.
Savchuk said that the end consumer, the client, should benefit from the reform of the defense attorneys. At the same time, the lawyer asks a number of questions, in particular, if there is a noticeable increase in the quality of the provision of legal services over the past three or four years, if the bar is effectively protecting lawyers whose rights are violated by the state, if it is really never abusing the powers of the lawyers themselves, and if it guarantees that no one cheats during the lawyer’s exam, and whether the lawyer’s exam is an actual criterion.
“Has the bar of Ukraine become such an institution with strong reputation that every lawyer wants to be a part of it? Of course, the number of lawyers has grown by double-digit percentage over the past two years preceding the introduction of the monopoly. However, it is such an incredible sudden popularity of this status that indicates that far not all lawyers sought to join the bar, they had to join it, and also that a huge percentage of lawyers did not believe in the real benefit of the lawyer’s status, and clients did not trust lawyers because of the lawyer’s certificate,” he said.
Savchuk said that despite the references of “ideologists of the lawyer monopoly in Ukraine to the Western experience,” this experience proves that “the monopoly is not the cause, but the result of many years, or even centuries of evolution of the bar as a guarantor of professionalism and protection of the rights of lawyers from state arbitrariness.”
The lawyer also expressed the opinion that the issue of lawyer monopoly can be resolved without amending the Constitution.
“Even these states, which laws are sometimes called a model, did not solve the issue of monopoly at the level of the Constitution, since for outstanding constitutions, the lawyer monopoly is a too derivative and dependent issue. This issue can be resolved by other laws,” he said.
“Of course, when changes to the Constitution are a matter of a purely parliamentary majority, not law-making technique, then school lunches can be implemented in the Constitution, but I would leave such reforms to one neighboring country,” the lawyer said.
Presidential bill No. 2300 on the abolition of a government monopoly on alcohol production from July 1, 2020, has passed its second reading and has been adopted as a whole. It was backed by 284 lawmakers, namely 229 MPs from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, three from Batkivschyna, 19 from the Holos (Voice) Party, 14 from the For Future parliamentary group, and 19 independent lawmakers. Bill No. 2300 on amendments to the law on state regulation of the production and sale of ethyl, cognac and fruit alcohol, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and fuels provides for the abolition of a government monopoly on the production of alcohol from July 1, 2020.
In addition, the bill allows business entities – regardless of their form of ownership – to produce alcohol with an appropriate license, and also provides for the full liberalization of alcohol exports from Ukraine.
A license for the production of ethyl alcohol is issued to enterprises with established round-the-clock video surveillance systems for the production and distribution of products. Disabling video surveillance systems is the basis for the refusal to issue a license or its recall, the document says.
At the same time, to protect the local commodity producer, the bill provides that only state-owned enterprises authorized by the Cabinet of Ministers will be able to import ethyl alcohol until January 1, 2024.
In addition, the bill provides for a ban on commissioning new alcohol production facilities before July 1, 2021. It also introduces an obligation to maintain jobs at privatized enterprises at 70% of the total number of employees for this period.
The bill also introduces mandatory denaturation of bioethanol with petrol from 1-10% for use in the domestic market.
Chief Executive Officer of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Andriy Kobolev has expressed fears that the Russian side will do everything to delay negotiations on the extension of the contract for gas transit through Ukraine, expecting possible changes in the country’s top officials and policy. “Most likely, they are waiting for elections in Ukraine and they want to see if there is any change in power and the country’s political course. They will do everything possible to launch the Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction,” Kobolev told the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Kobolev said Russians now express readiness to study the issue of moving to work within the framework of European legislation, but they are stalling and trying to introduce the issue of negotiating settlement agreements in a trilateral format.
“Until recently, Russians’ position was not constructive. Before the agreement on something under the transit contract, they want to talk about amicable deals within the Stockholm litigation, that is, raise questions that are unacceptable not only for us, but for any party , which won in court,” he said.
Kobolev expressed hope the third party of the negotiations represented by the European Commission would have an impact on Russia, since stalling the process is not advantageous to Ukraine and European consumers of Russian gas.
“As our experience shows, a force majeure signing at the end of 2019 would be a very bad story. I hope that the position of Europeans may lead to a change in the tactics of Russians and they will be forced to negotiate before the end of 2019 about a new format of relations from January 2020. We are working actively on this now. The European Commission is in agreement with us in the application of European law. If we agree on this as a basis, then all further actions become much easier and more effective,” Kobolev said.
