Venice Commission recommends Ukraine postpone anti-oligarchy law until war is over

On Friday 9 June, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) recommended that Ukraine postpone the implementation of the so-called anti-oligarchy law, which the European Commission has identified as one of the criteria for Kyiv's further movement towards EU membership. Source: Denys Maliuska, Ukraine's Minister of Justice, reported by European Pravda Details: Maliuska recalled that the European Commission had stipulated the adoption of anti-oligarchy legislation as a condition for Georgia, and the Venice Commission had criticised it because of the individual approach proposed in it.

Quote: "Ukrainian oligarchs expected that the same thing would happen with the Ukrainian law on oligarchs: there would be crushing criticism, which would lead to the law simply being buried and the start of negotiations on joining the EU being delayed. I will say right away: this did not happen," he added.

After discussions with Venice Commission experts, Maliuska added, the experts decided that the Ukrainian "anti-oligarchy" law does not violate the rights of oligarchs, as the Georgian one did. However, they recommended that Ukraine postpone the implementation of the law on oligarchs in view of the war.

"The fact is that the war significantly changes the balance of power in Ukraine and significantly reduces the influence of oligarchs, both due to the destruction of their businesses and the functioning of state authorities in wartime. Consequently, it is extremely difficult to properly assess the impact of the oligarch law on the political and legal systems," Maliuska explained. The minister promised that the "pause" in the dialogue with the Venice Commission "will not last long".

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The Venice Commission was supposed to issue an opinion on the Ukrainian anti-oligarchy law in March.

However, at the last moment, at Ukraine's request, the consideration of the law was postponed until at least the middle of the year.

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