3rd Training Day of European Judicial Officers in Brussels on 25 February 2010

After Paris in 2009, 140 participants convened to Brussels to attend the 3rd training day in the comfortable conference room of the Bedford hotel. The program aimed at practice and practical training through two broad topics (European Order for Payment and seizures of properties) and a review of the European jurisprudential and legislative topicality.

For the opening of the conference, Jean-Daniel Lachkar, president of the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of France welcomed the participants. He stressed the importance of the opening of the profession towards Europe, in particular through training. Jean-Michel Rouzaud, president of the National School of Procedure of Paris, said which was the investment of the school in the International Training Center of judicial officers (CIFHJ). He reaffirmed with conviction that professional training was to be combined at international level in a world where borders merge.

This point of view was shared by Leo Netten, president of the UIHJ, who recalled that the UIHJ was at the initiative of the creation of the CIFHJ. President Netten declared himself very happy to open the 3rd edition. Work was coordinated by Francoise Andrieux, general secretary of the UIHJ, with the local assistance of our Brussels colleague Roland de Meerleer, honorary member of the UIHJ.

Jos Uitdehaag, judicial officer (the Netherlands), 1st quaestor of the Committee of the UIHJ, drew a very complete picture of the European institutions: European commission, European legal Network, European Judicial Atlas, the Council of Europe, the European commission for the effectiveness of justice (CEPEJ) and the various European instruments, recommendations and guide lines as regards civil and enforcement procedures and professionals. Then, this presentation was followed by a review and a European jurisprudential analysis of the past year and concerning the occupation of judicial officer. Guillaume Payan, university lecturer at the university of Maine (France) and Patrick Gielen, judicial officer (Belgium) followed one another for this exercise of great interest for the participants.

After a short pause, a practical workshop on the European Order for Payment (EOP) was proposed. Dimitrios Tsikrikas, law professor at the university of Athens (Greece), gave at the same time a concise, alive and complete presentation of this recent instrument promised to a bright future, while denouncing some of its limits to his eyes. Then Mathieu Chardon, 1st secretary of the UIHJ and Carlos Calvo, President of the Chamber of the judicial officers of Luxemburg, connected on-line on the website of the European Judicial Atlas to explain and show, in a few clicks, that the EOP is ultimately very accessible. They thus could show that with a little practice, ten minutes were enough to complete the request form for a European order for payment and that this procedure was a tool made for all judicial officers.

In the afternoon, Guillaume Payan reviewed and analyzed the topicality of EU law. He also presented the perspectives of the Stockholm program of the European commission as regards the profession.

The second workshop of the day touched the topic of the future of seizure of property in Europe. It was presented by Bernard Menut, 1st vice-president of the UIHJ, Adrian Stoica, judicial officer (Romania), secretary of the board of the UIHJ and author of a recent Phd on enforcement of immovable, Stéphane Gensollen, judicial officer in Marseilles and Guyla Kovacs, judicial officer (Hungary). This very alive workshop made it possible to show the great differences - even the ditches - existing between European Union countries. Indeed a world separates the systems where judicial officers just play a subordinate role in a dusty and unsuited procedure, and those where these professionals are the dominus litis of a procedure which they can carry out by means of “one line” bidding.

To close the day, Anton Jongbloed (Netherlands), professor at the university of Utrecht, member of the Scientific counsel of the UIHJ, brilliantly engaged in the now traditional conclusive analysis.

The success of the day shows that the CIFHJ training days found their formula. So, let's all meet in Brussels next year for the 4th edition!