On March 30–31, 2026, the regular annual intergovernmental conference within the framework of the Ukrainian-Netherlands dialogue on supporting Ukraine’s integration into the European Union took place in Breda (Kingdom of the Netherlands).
The event took place at a high intergovernmental level with the participation of representatives of state authorities. The plenary session was opened by Tom Berendsen, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Taras Kachka, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine. In their speeches, the participants emphasised that the conference should ensure not only the political continuity of bilateral relations, but also their institutional substance through the alignment of priorities, the deepening of sectoral cooperation, and the creation of mechanisms for implementing joint decisions to support Ukraine’s European integration course, strengthen its resilience in the face of military aggression, as well as post-war reconstruction.
Building on the approach of the First Intergovernmental Conference – held last year in Lviv as a platform for expert exchange – this year’s meeting expanded the scope of cooperation to encompass new areas of regulatory framework, reconstruction, economic resilience and security cooperation, organised into four working groups.
A meeting of the Working Group on the Rule of Law and Accountability was held, attended by representatives of the relevant authorities from both countries. The meeting was co-chaired by Heleen Bakker, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for European Integration; Anneke van Dijk, the Vice Minister of Justice and Security of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; and Olha Riabukha, the Deputy Minister of Justice for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization. Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Council for the Judiciary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as well as key Ukrainian state bodies in the fields of foreign policy, corruption prevention, criminal justice and judicial administration, including Oleh Koliush, the Deputy Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, and Yuliia Reminska, the Head of the International Cooperation Division of the Commission’s Secretariat.
The parties discussed topical issues in the areas of the rule of law, Ukraine’s European integration and anti-corruption policy, and focused their attention on improving mechanisms for holding perpetrators of international crimes to account.
Oleh Koliush thanked the Netherlands partners for the opportunity to participate in the conference and presented the main results achieved since the Commission resumed its activities. He emphasised that the Commission had focused not only on unblocking previously stalled processes, but also on establishing a new, more predictable and transparent model for exercising its powers. At the heart of this work lies the strengthening of the judiciary’s staffing, the resumption of the selection of candidates for the positions of judges, and the conduct of competitions for positions in the courts of appeal and high specialised courts.
The Deputy Chairman of the Commission informed those present that, as of 2023, the HQCJ had completely updated its regulatory framework. This involved, in particular, the approval of the procedure and methodology for qualification assessment, the definition of indicators of compliance with the criteria for such assessment, and the means of establishing them. The Commission has standardised the issue of regular assessment of judges as an independent regulatory mechanism designed to ensure consistency, legal certainty and a unified approach to assessing the professional needs of judges.
In addition, the Commission has introduced a qualitatively new, more balanced approach to conducting qualification assessment procedures, under which the integrity and professional ethics of a judge or a candidate for the position of judge are presumed, although such a presumption is rebuttable, and the level of compliance with the specified criteria is to be established during the qualification assessment.
An important area of the Commission’s work is its interaction with advisory bodies – the Public Integrity Council, the Public Council of International Experts, and the newly established Expert Council. Such cooperation is regarded as an integral part of the HQCJ’s current model for implementing procedures, ensuring transparency, helping to strengthen public confidence in their outcomes, and aligning with European standards of governance in the field of justice.
At the conference, the parties also discussed promising areas of cooperation between judicial governance bodies. On behalf of the Commission, Oleh Koliush presented proposals of practical significance for improving national procedures for the selection of judges to Henk Naves, the Chairman of the Council for the Judiciary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Following the conference, the Ukrainian and Netherlands sides signed a communiqué setting out a shared vision for supporting Ukraine’s reforms and European integration, and identifying priorities for further cooperation, particularly in the fields of energy, agriculture, social policy and state-building. It is also worth noting that the document confirms the continuation of cooperation between the Council for the Judiciary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the High Council of Justice of Ukraine, as well as the launch of cooperation with the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine in support of shared goals in the areas of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary
