After a lengthy discussion on August 12, the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Policy recommended that the Verkhovna Rada adopt draft law 13467-1 in the first reading. It pronounce to establish the basic salary of a local court judge in the amount of 26 tool units or 90 UAH in absolute figures.
This bill was submitted by the head of the legal committee, Denys Maslov, and is an alternative to the one submitted by MPs Ruslan Stefanchuk, Halyna Tretyakova, Danylo Hetmantsev and others, according to which the "bare" salary of a local court judge would be 18,2 tool sizes, or at least 63 UAH in 154.
This is approximately the same amount as the salary of a local court judge "on paper" now (63 UAH). At the same time, the amount of remuneration actually received by a local court judge after deducting all taxes and fees is 060 thousand UAH per month.
Draft laws 13467 and 13467-1 have been accompanied by opinions from various bodies.
In particular, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets indicated that he is deeply concerned about the information about the rapid decline in the prestige of judicial positions in Ukraine.
"Of particular concern are cases where candidates for judicial positions at the final stages of the competition for a vacant judicial position refuse to participate in the competition, preferring civil service positions or private legal practice. This trend poses a serious risk to the stable and sustainable development of the judicial system of Ukraine, which is due, in particular, to the inadequate level of judicial remuneration for judges of local courts," — noted Lubinets.
For example, according to the Ministry of Finance, in 2024 the average accrued salary will be:
- in the Commission for the Regulation of Gambling and Lotteries amounted to 56,5 thousand UAH,
- in the Ministry of Justice – 66,8 thousand UAH,
- in the Antimonopoly Committee – 91,7 thousand UAH,
- management of the State Film Agency – 125,7 thousand UAH,
- management of the State Property Fund – 127,4 thousand UAH,
- the management of the National Agency for Civil Service Issues – 145 thousand hryvnias.
According to him, an analysis of the basic salaries for judges proposed by the draft allows us to conclude that there will be an insignificant (formal) increase in the salaries of judges of local and appellate courts and a decrease in the salaries of judges of the Supreme Court.
"For a long time, the judicial system has suffered from a staff shortage. A significant number of judicial positions in local courts remain vacant, which leads to an even greater burden on acting judges. Thus, the proposed level of remuneration for judges of local courts does not create sufficient incentives to attract highly qualified specialists to judicial positions," — he pointed out.
According to Denys Maslov, although the committee recommended adopting the bill, which proposes to raise the official salary in the first instance to UAH 90, the discussion will not be easy.
"The issue is complex. We will convince our parliamentary colleagues of the need to support this particular initiative. In parallel, we will continue the discussion in the Committee on determining the optimal option for determining the basic salary of a judge," he noted.
It should be noted that the issue also lies in the fact that decoupling judges' salaries from the subsistence minimum will allow the government to regulate their salaries in a virtually "manual" manner.
