"Social Reform and Court Decisions": Dialogue on the Enforcement of Court Decisions in the Field of Pensions and Social Security Took Place

On 31 March, EU Project Pravo-Justice, together with Council of Europe projects "Support to the Functioning of Justice in the War and Post-War Context in Ukraine" and "Enhanced Social Protection in Ukraine" in cooperation with the Aspen Institute Kyiv supported the dialogue "Social reform and court decisions".

Justices of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the Administrative Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court, representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the Pension Fund of Ukraine, Members of the Parliament of Ukraine, economic experts, human rights activists, scholars, and representatives of civil society participated in the event.

In particular, the Dialogue featured the following discussions:

• the current situation regarding the enforcement of court decisions on social benefits and special pensions.
• potential legislative and institutional changes.
• strategies for effective communication with society on the changes required in the social sector.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has repeatedly emphasised that non-enforcement or delayed enforcement of domestic court decisions is a major problem for Ukraine. The European Court of Human Rights highlighted this problem back in 2001 in the case "Kaisyn and Others v. Ukraine". As of today, the state owes approximately 80 billion hryvnias in cases related to the assignment and recalculation of pensions. The urgency of implementing concrete and effective measures to address these challenges and uphold social justice has never been greater than it is today, as Ukraine continues its unwavering pursuit of EU integration while confronting the immense and multifaceted hardships brought by war.

"Enforcement of court decisions is the cornerstone of the rule of law and one of the key criteria for Ukraine on its path to the EU. In the context of Ukraine’s European integration, discussions such as 'we cannot enforce the decisions of national courts' have no prospects. It is crucial to find a mechanism to overcome this challenge in order to prevent obstacles on the way to the EU," said Virgilijus Valančius, Senior International Expert at EU Project Pravo-Justice, Judge of the General Court of the EU (2016-2023). He emphasised that the Ukrainian authorities should develop mechanisms to enforce the issued court decisions and prevent new claims.

In his turn, Tomas Stravinskas, Sector Manager at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, highlighted three key dimensions associated with the problem of non-enforcement of court decisions on social claims – legal, financial and political.

"Firstly, non-enforcement of court decisions undermines the rule of law and reduces public trust in the judiciary and state institutions in general. Secondly, from a financial point of view, public resources are spent inefficiently, which causes added pressure on the budget and the judiciary. Thirdly, political decisions are often not backed by adequate funding, making them difficult or impossible to implement," said Tomas Stravinskas.

He believes that an effective solution to this problem requires a comprehensive approach involving all three aspects.

"We hope that the outcomes of this discussion will lay the groundwork for further initiatives at the highest level," concluded Tomas Stravinskas.