A Permanent Mechanism for Consulting Stakeholders
Within the framework of The Hague Programme (2004) on strengthening freedom, security and justice in the European Union (EU), and conscious of the need for dialoguing with all stakeholders of the systems of justice through the EU, the European commission called for the creation of a forum on justice. Currently, there is no regular dialogue or established channel of communication between EU authorities and practitioners to discuss either the rationale behind a proposal for legislation or the impact of adopted instruments on the way judicial cooperation functions on a day-to-day basis. Instruments adopted need to be assessed from the point of view of their effect on national systems. Practitioners who will come into contact and work with EU measures should have an input at an early stage. Once the measure is adopted, the extent to which it is used, whether it meets the objectives for which it was designed and the cost engendered in order to achieve the goal, including any unforeseen and unintended consequences, should be examined. Such are some of the ideas having governed the creation of this tool. The Forum is defined as a permanent mechanism for consulting stakeholders. It should receive feedback and should review EU justice policies and practice transparently and objectively. It will have two main spheres of activity, (1) to provide the Commission with specialist views on EU justice policy and legislation, and (2) to promote mutual trust between EU justice systems by improving mutual understanding of them.
Working Effectively with the CEPEJ
One of the required objectives is also to effectively work with the Council of Europe and more precisely the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), of which the UIHJ is a permanent observer member. It is within this framework that Jacques Isnard was invited to take part in the launch of the Forum, in Brussels, on May 30th, 2008.
The opening ceremony was directed by Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission. Several presentations followed one another on various European institutions (The European Parliament, the European Judicial Network in criminal Matters, the European Judicial Network in Civil Matters, the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the EU, ...), as well as on the relationship with the CEPEJ, with the participation of its president, Fausto de Santis, and its Secretary, Stephan Leyenberger. Then the priorities of the Forum, its composition and working methods were presented.
The UIHJ has always claimed that it is not possible, within the framework of the globalization of the law, to usefully legislate without taking into account the contribution and the experiment of professional stakeholders. The creation of this forum constitutes in many ways a positive response to the legitimate expectation of the UIHJ and all European judicial officers. The UIHJ can only be pleased with the creation of this Forum of which it is already an accepted partner.
