“European practices” that do not exist: Bronevytskyi explains how Prosecutor General is appointed in EU countries
26 December 2025 13:51
EXCLUSIVE
The European Commission’s requirements to reboot the selection system for the leadership of the State Bureau of Investigation, the National Police and the Prosecutor General’s Office are raising more and more questions among the professional community. Lawyers and politicians point out that under the slogan of “best European practices,” Ukraine is trying to introduce models of competitions involving experts that are not actually used in European countries. This was stated by former SAPO prosecutor Stanislav Bronevytskyi on the "Komersant Ukrainian" YouTube channel.
Bronevytskyi recalled the joint statement of the European Commissioner and the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, which states that the system of selecting the Prosecutor General should be rebooted in accordance with “best European practices.”
“In the context of the reform and the competition for the position of the Prosecutor General, there was a joint statement by the European Commissioner and the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, which says that one of the obligations that Ukraine must fulfill is to actually ensure a reboot of the system of selection of the Prosecutor General in accordance with the best European experience or practices. What are the best European practices? We don’t know,” he said.
In the context of this statement, Bronevytskyi investigated how such appointments are actually made in economically successful European countries.
“I took the top 5 European countries that have a super cool economic situation. It is measured by different indicators, but among them are Germany, France, Sweden, and the UK. It is not an EU country, but it is geographically close and its economy is harmoniously linked to the Eurozone economy. So there are no competitions anywhere,” explained Bronevytsky.
According to him, in the UK, the attorney general is appointed by the prime minister with the formal approval of the monarch. Similar practices are in place in Germany, France, and Sweden.
“Nowhere is there a competition of some people who for some reason started calling themselves experts in a certain environment. In my understanding, who are the experts? This is a person who has 30 years of experience, who knows the entire system from top to bottom, who grew up in this system, who can quote the law to your teeth at two in the morning if you wake him up. And here come people who for some reason call themselves experts, ready to reform something, relying on European practices that do not exist. I think it’s a bit of a stretch,” he emphasized.
