The Council of Europe and the program of Stockholm
Twice a year the CEPEJ organizes its plenary meetings, in June and in December. It is the occasion for the representatives of the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe as well as the several organizations representing legal professions to gather in this large European laboratory. The UIHJ was represented by Roger Dujardin and Mathieu Chardon, respectively vice-president and 1st secretary.
The June meeting of took on a special character since it intervened at the twilight of the Czech presidency of the European Union and at the dawn of the new Swedish presidency. It also marked a new phase in the will to reinforce the collaboration between the institutions of the Council of Europe and those of the European Union. Thus the participation of the following personalities:
- Jan Samanek, General Director for International Law, Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic, Presidency of the European Union
- Hans Nilsson, Minister, Permanent Representation of Sweden to the European Union, incoming Presidency of the European Union
- Jacek Gartska, Head Of Unit E.1, General Justice issues and e-Justice, Directorate General Justice, Freedom and Security, European Commission
- Claudia Gualtieri, Secretariat of the LIBE Commission, European Parliament
The meeting was chaired by John Stacey, vice-president of the CEPEJ, in place of Fausto de Santis, President, prevented.
In his matter, Philippe Boillat, General Director of the Human rights and legal affairs of the Council of Europe, addressed to the members of the CEPEJ and to the many observers. He did not fail to indicate that the presence at high level of the Czech presidency, of the future Swedish presidency, the European Commission and the European Parliament are “the proof of the importance of your work”. Mr. Boillat lengthily evoked the next program of Stockholm which will continue that of The Hague, by indicating the imminence of the public communication of the European Commission which will be used as a basis for this program. To prove him right and thanks to the efficiency of the secretariat of the CEPEJ every participant could soon obtain a copy of this very fresh communication. According to this document, “Citizen must be at the center of the future program of Stockholm”. The program which must be adopted by the European Council by the end of 2009 will frame the action of the European Union on the questions of citizenship, justice, security, asylum or immigration for the five years to come. Among the examples of proposals which are revealed in this communication, is the will to completely suppress intermediate procedures (exequatur) relating to execution of legal decisions from one Member State to another. “The Council of Europe shows a real interest for the program of Stockholm because the two European institutions - the Council of the European Union and the Council of Europe - have the same points of view on the protection of human rights. We have to build together the European area of justice complementarily and on common bases” Philippe Boillat declared.
Jan Samanek evoked the importance of recognition and mutual trust amongst the various actors of the legal world, as well as mutual knowledge on legal systems.
Then, Hans Nilsson indicated that Sweden will start as from July 2009 a program of consultation of the countries and various committees concerned, and naturally of the Council of Europe. Being the requests of the non-governmental organizations, “we are already overflowed” noted the minister.
Claudia Gualtieri confirmed that the European Parliament is naturally there to cooperate with the CEPEJ, in particular in the field of evaluations and comparison of collected data.
Jacek Gartska insisted on the importance of the opinion of law experts in particular within the framework of the preparation of the program of Stockholm, in order to place the citizen in the middle of the stakes.
Exercises of evaluation and draft European directive
Stephan Leyenberger, secretary of the CEPEJ, gave short report of the meeting of the Forum Justice which was held at the European Commission in Brussels on 4 and 5 June 2009, meeting to which the UIHJ, represented by its 1st vice-president, Leo Netten, attended, and which had the CEPEJ as partner.
One of the works which now makes the reputation of the CEPEJ is the evaluation of European legal systems. A cycle of evaluation lasts two years. The data are collected during the first year. They are then analyzed the second year, at the conclusion of which the evaluation report is finalized, approved and published. Jean-Paul Jean, president of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL working group, presented in details the aspects of the 3rd exercise of evaluation which he regards as particularly important in that it makes it possible “to learn from the preceding cycles of evaluation”. For Mr. Jean, it is important to change as little as possible the basic questionnaire, firstly to compare the same data and secondly to enable the correspondents to be accustomed to the questionnaires.
Within the framework of the interventions of the observer members of the CEPEJ, Mathieu Chardon underlined the major interest of the UIHJ for the work of the CEPEJ. The 1st secretary of the UIHJ indicated that the organization that he represented with Roger Dujardin did not miss an occasion to ensure the promotion of the CEPEJ which work was an example to be followed. Then he presented a report of the activities of the UIHJ since the last CEPEJ meeting of December 2008. He insisted in particular on the international symposium organized by the UIHJ, the National Room of judicial officers of Romania and the Law Faculty of Sibiu from 13 to 15 May 2009 at the Law Faculty of Sibiu (Romania) on the topic: “Legal Europe: 10 years after the Council of Tampere of 16-17 October 1999”. This conference joined together nearly 40 speakers, as well as the European commission represented, via a video message, by its vice-president, Jacques Barrot, and in the flesh by Jerome Carriat, of the General Directorate Justice Freedom and Security. Mathieu Chardon pointed out that the UIHJ had been the initiator of the 15 November 1965 Hague Convention 1965 on service of documents abroad, and that the French judicial officers had proposed in 1983 the creation of a European Enforcement Order. “In Sibiu, said he, after the presentation of a film report carried out in the whole of the Member States of the European Union on the service of the techniques of introduction of proceedings in the European Union, the UIHJ gave a report containing a draft European directive creating a European harmonized document initiating proceedings in civil and commercial matters”. This project, in the course of finalization and translation, will be soon widely diffused by the UIHJ.
Mathieu Chardon pointed out that on 11 June 2009 is the world Day of the Judicial Officer. This year, the topic backing the event is “Justice and social stakes”. Lastly, he invited each speaker to go to Marseilles (France) from 7 to 11 January 2009 to attend the 20th international congress of the UIHJ on the topic: “The judicial officer in the State, in the law, in the world” and which sub-topics are:
- A world harmonization of the classification of goods and the need for a new contract law: idea of reorganizing the classification of goods by taking account of the socio-economic evolution at worldwide level
- The harmonization of new activities and world standards of enforcement
- The judicial officer, essential element of the Rule of law. Idea that the judicial officer is guaranteeing legal security.
Working group on enforcement
Georg Stawa (Austria) presented the works of the CEPEJ-GT-EXE working group on enforcement where UIHJ stands as an observant member. After having indicated who the members of this work group were, Mr. Stawa indicated that the work was based on the various documents and existing recommendations in the field of enforcement. After discussion, draft guidelines were adopted. The work was then divided between the 10 attending members and the result will be discussed in October 2009 at the time of the second meeting of the CEPEJ-GT-EXE working group, to be presented in December during the 14th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ. Then, our fellow-member John Marston, president of this working group, indicated that one of the objects of the exercise was to answer questions as varied as the statute of judicial officers, their prerogatives, their mode of regulation and control, their education level, etc.
At the end of the meeting, John Stacey thanked all the participants. He congratulated Pim Albers, special adviser of the CEPEJ, who had been attending his last meeting, for the great work he accomplished during his six years amongst the CEPEJ. Finally the vice-president of the CEPEJ thanked the interpreters as well as the secretariat of the CEPEJ, which efficiency undoubtedly constitutes an ideal image for an organization based on ... the efficiency of justice!
