UIHJ seminar in Salzburg

An informative meeting for the judicial officers of Austria
This event aimed at informing our colleagues from Austria about the profession in the Benelux countries and in Hungary as well as the reforms that are currently taking place in Germany.
The function of judicial officer in Austria is at the moment carried out by civil servants, who are regrouped inside the court, under the surveillance of a Rechtspfleger.
After several meetings with representatives of the ministry of Justice of Austria, and notably the Minister of Justice, who said she was not opposed to a reform of the profession based on a liberal model, it was decided by UIHJ to organise a seminar aimed at informing judicial officers from Austria on the different aspects of the profession in other countries of the European Union. Eduard Beischall, honorary president of the Federal association of German judicial officers and Marc Schmitz, member of the Committee of UIHJ, were in charge of the organisation of the meeting. More than thirty colleagues from Austria attended the seminar.
Leo Netten, first Vice-president of UIHJ, opened the day after a short presentation of UIHJ to the Austrian judicial officers.
Then, it was the turn of Norbert Tijhuis, judicial officer in the Netherlands, as well as Charles Vanheukelen, honorary president of the Belgium national chamber of judicial officers, and Marc Schmitz, to present the liberal profession in the Benelux countries. During the presentation, which lasted for 2.5 hours, all the domains of the profession were discussed, such as training, territorial and attribution competences, discipline, national organisation, etc.
 
Changes in the profession in Germany and Hungary
The amount of questions that were asked shows the real interest for our Austrian colleagues for a theme that was new to them.
After the presentation of the current free profession in the Benelux, Hans Eckhard Gallo, the present president of the judicial officers of Germany, described the evolution of the profession in Germany during the past decades and informed the participants of the reforms that are taking place in his country in order to adopt a private system for judicial officers.
After this presentation, Dr Moklos Krejniker, president of the National chamber of Hungarian judicial officers, described precisely the path that the profession took in his country during the nineties to get to the current situation.
Eduard Beischall made a final report and drew his conclusions. He insisted on the fact that the future of the profession lies in the private model.

The first steps of UIHJ in Austria
Before the term of the seminar, a representative of the Syndicate, uninvited but present in the room, made an intervention about his doubts as regards to the envisaged system. He made a point in telling that “his” judicial officers wouldn't accept such a change. Instantly, voices from judicial officers in the room were heard, saying that he wasn't speaking in their names and that he should be conscious about this fact! Mr Beischall also answered the representative of the syndicate who soon ended his criticisms.
The meeting ended up after more than four hours of debates and will certainly be considered as the first decisive step for UIHJ in Austria. It is needless to say that other similar meetings will follow in the future and that contacts are being made to pursue the actions that UIHJ started in Austria. To be continued...