The Venice Commission provided interim assessments of the anti-oligarchic bills developed by Georgia and Moldova on the recommendation of the European Commission to eliminate the excessive influence of private interests on the economic, political and public spheres. The states have prepared documents that resemble the law on oligarchs approved by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in 2021, although they have their own characteristics.

The experts provided rather similar conclusions regarding the projects of both Georgia and Moldova. The Council of Europe's constitutional law body backed both countries' efforts to eliminate or at least limit the influence of the oligarchs, but pointed to the importance of introducing systemic reforms rather than targeting individuals for the sake of "

The Venice Commission stressed that the choice of means to achieve the goal is crucial if the authorities want to be effective in this matter and remain committed to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental human rights. "

According to experts, " Focusing on strengthening institutions and laws is important.

At the same time, the Georgian and Moldovan projects focus on a " They seek to apply a number of restrictions against them, in particular a ban on financing political parties and the privatization of state property..

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The commission believes that such an approach creates high risks of human rights violations and arbitrary use of norms, and can also potentially harm political pluralism..

To Georgia, representatives of the body recommend that the authority to identify oligarchs be given to a non-government body in order to reduce such risks and ensure that procedures are carried out properly.

At the same time, the Venice Commission noted that the draft law of Moldova contains a number of improvements compared to the Georgian and Ukrainian initiatives. We are talking, in particular, about the intention to involve parliament and judges in the process of determining the identity of an oligarch, as well as the development of a list of basic rights for a fair trial before the National Committee for Deoligarchization.

Moldova is advised to clarify key provisions and procedures, in particular, the criteria for determining oligarchs, in order to form strong guarantees of human rights, ensure due process and proportionality of specific consequences for those who are declared oligarchs.

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Ukrainian authorities are still awaiting the conclusion of the Venice Commission regarding their law on oligarchs, which contains elements criticized above. It should have been considered in January 2022.

The Verkhovna Rada in 2021 voted for the relevant bill, without waiting for the conclusions of the commission.

The then speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and other deputies drew attention to a number of legal conflicts regarding both the definition of the concept of an oligarch and the body that will determine them.. However, Zelensky was told that there was no need to re-vote some points..

Read more about how the law can affect the oligarchs and the real motives for its adoption, read in the article by Yulia Samaeva " What does he talk about and what does he not say?.