Prosecutor General Kravchenko canceled the Personnel Reserve in the Prosecutor’s Office: what it means and what the EU is here

On June 24, the newly appointed Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko canceled Regulations on the selection of candidates for the personnel reserve and the commission that formed this reserve. This decision actually crosses the annual work on the reform of the selection of prosecutors, namely the gradual transition to appointments on the basis of the competition.

We tell you that the staff reserve, how the system will work after cancellation and what it will be reformed for the reform of the prosecutor’s office and European integration.

Transparency for replacement of culinary: why should prosecutors’ appointments be changed? The term of office of many current heads of regional and district prosecutors is completed in 2025-2026, since the appointment to these positions is carried out for 5 years. This opens the window to update the management staff on a competitive basis. After all, the process of appointing prosecutors to key management positions is opaque and non -szerocratic. Typically, “favorites”, not people who really have considerable work experience, including guidance, strategic vision of the development of the prosecutor’s office, which they are going to lead and are virtuous, get to management positions.

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The European Commission in the Screening Report, published in January 2025, also speaks about the need to improve the procedure for appointing prosecutors in Ukraine in Ukraine. International partners emphasized that this selection should take place through a transparent competition with clear selection criteria on the basis of integrity and professionalism.

In response, Ukraine plans to introduce new legislation in the first quarter of 2026 with clear criteria, competitions and transparent procedures. This is recorded in terms of action for Ukraine Facility and in the Road Map of Reform on the Rule of Law. To do this, it is necessary to adopt amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Prosecutor’s Office”, which have been developed for some time. The work group has already existed, and in May 2025, the Attorney General’s office even collected proposals from regional prosecutors on the bill. However, the final is far from the law – the law has to go through the government and parliament.

How did the personnel reserve work – and why did he need? Formation of personnel reserve should accelerate these processes and make them more effective. This is a pilot project on the way to the introduction of competitive selection of executives in the prosecutor’s office, as the obligation of Ukraine to the European Union requires.

In October 2024, the previous Attorney General created a commission from the selection, which included both prosecutors, including a representative of the prosecutor council (prosecutor’s self -government) and experts delegated by international partners. The commission was to be transparent selection of candidates for leadership positions with a check of a strategic vision of the prosecutor’s office in the relevant position, integrity, practical tasks and interviews. This would allow a two -year personnel reserve – a recommendation list of applicants, whom the prosecutors of Ukraine could submit to the Prosecutor General for the appointment of heads of regional prosecutors and their deputies, heads of district prosecutors.

In November last year, the selection was announced to the personnel reserve, and more than 500 prosecutors from all over Ukraine were filed for executive positions. At the time of cancellation, the commission almost completed its work – estimated about 400 candidates out of 460, admitted to the last stage. The list of recommended candidates for management positions was planned for a week – July 3, 2025. But instead of summarizing – a sudden cancellation of the whole process.

Who will now appoint prosecutors? Prior to the adoption of the new legislation, the selection will take place according to the current procedure – without open competitions. Approves the prosecutor General or the Prosecutor General’s Office according to the level.

A number of positions, including heads of regional and district prosecutors, are appointed on the submission of prosecutors of Ukraine. However, this is not a competitive procedure: there are no selection ads, it is also impossible to announce the position. Decisions are made within, they are chosen “among their”, without the participation of external experts and the verification of integrity. Therefore, people without proper assessment, which forms local practices of “favorite” and undermines the authority of the prosecutor’s office in the eyes of society, can get into management positions. In the end, it is unclear for most prosecutors how career grows, because often by this procedure, executives appoint people with a significantly lower experience and professional level than the experience and level of those he/she will manage.

Competitive selection is also important in the light of a scandal with “prosecutorial disabilities”, after which a number of positions of heads of regional prosecutors remain vacant. In fact, 7 posts of heads of regional prosecutors, including Khmelnytsky and Cherkasy region, remain vacant for over half a year. Therefore, first of all, the “personnel reserve” had to close the need for professional and virtuous leaders in the aforementioned “problematic” regions, in addition, to enable prosecutors who wish to grow, to prove themselves and to be appointed to management positions. This was what the society expected after public release of leaders of different levels, not returning to the opaque procedures that existed before.

What next? The personnel reserve was part of the preparation for the reform of the procedure of selection of heads of regional and district prosecutors. At the European integration track in Brussels, the preliminary management of the Prosecutor General’s office has submitted this project as progress. Now these experiences have been destroyed by one unsuccessful solution, as well as without any advice with international development partners who have invested significant resources in the pilot project.

Instead of waiting for the results of the work of the commission to be selected and then evaluate its work, Ukraine returned again at the beginning of the journey. The resources spent were simply waste, and prosecutors who wanted to grow carefully – they were deprived of this opportunity.

In the pursuit of “quick decisions” we will now get opaque appointments for vacant positions. These people will work in prosecutorial positions for 5 years. While the chance for an open competition for prosecutors will have at best in the first quarter of 2026.

Eugene KrapinHead of Law and Order Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives

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