CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN JUDGES

(CcjE)

5^th meeting of the Bureau

Strasbourg, 16 February 2009

MEETING REPORT

1. The Bureau of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) held its 5^th meeting in Strasbourg (Palais de l’Europe) on 16 February 2009, with Ms Julia LAFFRANQUE (Estonia) in the Chair.

2. The following Bureau members were present:

Mr Afonso ORLANDO (Portugal)
Mr Gerhard REISSNER (Austria)
Mr Raffaele SABATO (Italy)

3. The agenda is appended hereto.

1. Preparation of 2009 meetings of the CCJE-GT and the Conference, and harmonisation of the work with the CCPE

4. The Bureau stressed the need for effective co-operation with the CCPE, particularly in joint meetings of the two working groups, with a view to drawing up a joint opinion on the relations between judges and prosecutors, which should contain guidelines meeting the interests of both judges and prosecutors. The Bureau reaffirmed its desire to produce a short, concrete text showing that European judges and prosecutors can work together, in keeping with the wishes of the Committee of Ministers.

5. Even though a single European conference of judges and prosecutors was to be held in 2009, unlike the preceding conferences, which had been separate, the CCJE-BU expressed the wish to play an active role in the preparation of this conference, which was to be held in Bordeaux (France) on Tuesday 30 June and the morning of Wednesday 1 July 2009. To this end, the Bureau members were asked to submit their proposals for themes and speakers before 27 February 2009. The Secretariat pointed out that, as at previous conferences, the members of the CCJE-GT would be invited on a priority basis to chair the sessions and that, if possible, the speakers would be from outside the CCJE.

6. A meeting of the CCJE-GT would be held immediately after the conference (from the afternoon of Wednesday 1 July to Friday 3 July 2009).

2. Preparation of the 10^th meeting of the CCJE (Ljubljana – Slovenia, 18-20 November 2009)

7. The Bureau of the CCJE noted that, although the CCJE had never expressed a wish to this effect, the 10^th plenary meeting of the CCJE would not be held in Strasbourg but in Ljubljana as part of the meetings organised to mark the Slovenian Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers. The recently appointed Slovenian Minister for Justice, Mr Ales ZALAR, being the former CCJE member for Slovenia, the Chair suggested contacting him in person to organise a high-level meeting between the CCJE-GT and Slovenian judges as a side event to the plenary meeting.

8. The Chair of the CCJE asked the Bureau members and the Secretariat to think of an event that could be organised to mark the 10^th anniversary of the CCJE’s plenary meetings.

9. One of the CCJE’s tasks at its 10^th plenary meeting would be to prepare its draft terms of reference for 2010-2011, to be submitted to the Committee of Ministers for adoption. These draft terms of reference should mention the subjects of the Opinions for the two years in question. In this connection, the Bureau examined document CCJE-BU(2009)2 prepared by the Chair on possible subjects for future CCJE opinions.

10. Execution, relations with other justice professionals and the powers of judges with regard to the efficiency of justice were mentioned by the Bureau members as being the most relevant themes in the near future. To prepare the discussion on this item at the next CCJE-GT meeting in July, it was agreed that M R Sabato and J Laffranque would draw up a joint document.

3. Working methods of the CCJE

11. The Bureau of the CCJE examined the document entitled “Working methods of the CCJE” (CCJE-BU(2008)5) prepared by the Chair. Among other things, this document suggested that the Bureau members choose between two methods concerning, on the one hand, the establishment of a pool of experts and, on the other, practical assistance to states. The document also included a working method for submission by CCJE members of their comments on opinions prepared by the CCJE-GT. This method was designed in particular to ensure that late comments concerning the substance of the text did not hinder the adoption of the opinion at the plenary meeting, as had been the case in 2008. The Secretariat, for is part, would need to send draft opinions to CCJE members as promptly as possible and see to it that the French and English texts were strictly identical.

12. The Bureau members were invited to comment on the document, which was to be finalised by Julia Laffranque by the end of February, before it was sent to all the CCJE members.

4. Examination of the situation in Serbia, Italy, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria

13. The Secretariat reported that, as decided by the CCJE at its previous plenary meeting, the authorities of Serbia (on the re-election of judges), Poland (on the refusal of the Polish President to appoint judges) and Bulgaria (on the draft unified code of ethics) had received a declaration prepared by the CCJE and signed by its Chair reiterating the relevant principles already laid down by the CCJE and offering specific help in future, if required.

5. Future work and role of the Task Force

14. The Bureau expressed the wish to obtain specific funding to set up a Task Force to deal with the increasingly numerous and frequent requests from member states concerning judges. The budget need not be large because it would be enough to finance a few missions each year (three, for example) of the pool of three experts.

15. It was proposed that CCJE members wishing to form part of the pool of experts should put their names forward to the Secretariat. For each question referred to the CCJE, three experts would be appointed from among these volunteers. This format was more flexible than having a permanent pool of experts and would make it possible to involve CCJE members more fully in the new activity.

6. Visibility of the work of the CCJE

16. With reference to Opinion No 11 on the quality of judicial decisions, the Chair of the CCJE welcomed the excellent and efficient co-operation between certain particularly active members of the CCJE, as a result of which a new text had been adopted by the CCJE (by written procedure) in mid-December, having due regard to all the comments made at the plenary meeting in November.

17. The Bureau asked the Secretariat to send Opinion No 11 to all the bodies mentioned in the “list of European bodies concerning judges and justice” (recently issued document CCJE(2008)6).

7. Development of synergies with other committees

Venice Commission

18. Julia Laffranque reported to the Bureau on her participation in a meeting of the Venice Committee’s sub-commission on the judiciary. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) had asked the Venice Commission to prepare an Opinion on European standards on the independence of the judiciary. To this end, the sub-commission had drawn up a report containing numerous references to the Opinions of the CCJE (and in particular Opinion No 1); the Venice Commission should adopt this report at its March 2009 plenary session. The Secretariat would keep the CCJE informed of the Venice Commission’s intentions regarding further co-operation and pointed out that, since prosecutors were also covered by the PACE’s request for an Opinion, the Venice Commission had shown a keen interest in the current work of the CCJE/CCPE.

19. Julia Laffranque commented paragraph by paragraph on the above-mentioned Venice Commission report, entitled “European standards on the independence of the judiciary, a systematic overview” (document CDL-JD(2008)002 – as yet confidential) (see document CCJE-BU(2009)1).

20. The Bureau confirmed its readiness, if need be, to do further work on this question with the Venice Commission.

CDCJ

21. The Bureau asked Mr Orlando AFONSO to participate in the first meeting of the Group of Specialists on the Judiciary (CJ-S-JUD), replacing the CJ-S-JUST, which was to be held in Strasbourg on 26 and 27 March 2009.

Justice Forum of the European Commission

22. The Secretariat, which was involved for another reason in the organisation of the next meeting of the Justice Forum (Brussels, 14 May 2009), would arrange for the CCJE to be invited to this event.

Appendix

AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR

1. Opening of the meeting/Ouverture de la réunion

2. Adoption of the agenda/Adoption de l’ordre du jour

3. Information by the President of the CCJE and the Secretariat/Informations par le Président du CCJE et le Secrétariat

4. Preparation of the 10th meeting of the CCJE (Strasbourg, 18-20 November 2009)/Préparation de la 10ème réunion du CCJE (Strasbourg, 18-20 novembre 2009)

5. Preparation of the 17th meeting of the CCJE-GT, the Conference and harmonisation of the work with the CCPE/Préparation de la 17ème réunion du CCJE-GT, de la Conférence et harmonisation des travaux avec le CCPE

6. Working methods of the CCJE/Méthodes de travail du CCJE

7. Examination of the situation in Serbia, Italy, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria/Examen de la situation en Serbie, Italie, Roumanie, Pologne et Bulgarie

8. Future work and role of the Task Force/Travaux et rôle futurs de la Task Force

9. Visibility of the work of the CCJE/Visibilité des travaux du CCJE

10. Future work of the CCJE/Travaux futurs du CCJE

11. Development of synergies with other committees (CDCJ, Venice Commission, EC Justice Forum, etc)/Développement des synergies avec d’autres comités (CDCJ, Commission de Venise, Forum de la justice de la CE, etc).

12. Any other business/Divers.