Strasbourg, 7 June 2010

CCJE-BU(2010)5

BUREAU OF the CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN JUDGES

(CCJE-BU)

8th meeting

Ohrid (“the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”)

1st June 2010

Secretariat document

prepared by the General Directorate of Human Rights and Legal Affairs


I.  Introduction

1.             The Bureau of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE-BU) held its 8th meeting in Ohrid on 1st June 2010, with Mr Orlando ALFONSO (Portugal) in the chair.

2.             The following members of the Bureau were also present :

- Mr Gerhard REISSNER (Austria), Vice-Chair of the CCJE

- Mr Raffaele SABATO (Italy),

- Mr Paul MAFFEI (Belgium).

3.             The agenda is set out in Appendix I.

II.Information by the President of the CCJE and the Secretariat

4.             The Bureau expressed its gratitude to Mrs Aneta Arnaudovska for the excellent organisation of the 19th meeting of the CCJE-GT which is also held in Ohrid (2-4 June 2010) and asked her to extend warm thanks to the authorities of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” which were involved, and in particular to the Minister of Justice, Mr Mihajlo Manevski, the President of the Supreme Court, Mr Jovo Vangelovski as well as the Vice-President of the Judicial Council, Mr Naser Hadzi, for the excellent welcome given to the CCJE delegation.

5.             The President informed the members of the Bureau of the participation of Mr John Marston (United-Kingdom), President of the CEPEJ Working Group on execution (CEPEJ-GT-EXE) in the works of the CCJE Working Group.

III.        Preparation of the draft Opinion No. 13

6.             The Bureau agreed, with a view to guiding the Working Group in its discussions, to use, as a basis for further work, the draft Opinion prepared by the Secretariat on the basis of inputs made by the CCJE-GT members since its 18th meeting (see document CCJE-GT(2010)4), while insisting both on the need to limit the scope of application of the Opinion strictly to the role of judges in enforcing judicial decisions and the requirement to keep the Opinion to a minimum.

IV.       « Magna Carta of European judges »

7.             The President gave an account of the discussions held during the 1st meeting of the CCJE Working Group on Magna Carta (CCJE-MC), in Paris on May 27th 2010. He recalled that the objective of this document is to create a strong text providing the essential principles for judges which according to the CCJE should be respected by the states. He stressed the fact that such document allows simply to present differently and in a more visible manner the most important principles drawn from the Opinions already adopted by the CCJE. 

8.             A single meeting was not sufficient to finalise the text which must be completed, in particular, by the subjects on responsibility and ethics. It should be relatively short and include only around 15 paragraphs (see the draft project in Appendix II - French only) in order to be distinguished from the CCJE Opinions. It will only be translated into English when the CCJE-MC will finalise the first draft.

9.             According to the Bureau, the text should also include:

§     an introduction describing the origins of such text;

§     a first paragraph including an explicit reference to the balance of powers;

§     principles relating to terrorism, justice in cases of emergency and the need for each judge to have a real “culture of ethics”.

10.          The Bureau also exchanged views on the need to add an explanatory statement, an index or an explicit reference to the CCJE Opinions.

11.          The Bureau instructed the CCJE-MC to agree on a final title for the document (in particular, to decide whether it should be spelled Magna Charta or Magna Carta) and, once finalised, to submit the document for comments, if necessary.

12.          This text should be formally adopted at the 11th CCJE plenary meeting to be held in Strasbourg from 17 to 19 November 2010.

V.         Draft Council of Europe guidelines on child-friendly justice

13.          The CCJE was asked to consider the draft Council of Europe guidelines on child-friendly justice currently being prepared by the CDCJ, in order to check the consistency of the text with the CCJE Opinions.

14.          The Secretariat informed the Bureau that a document gathering comments of the CCJE on the draft (Document CCJE-BU (2010)4) was sent.

VI.       Practical assistance activities: Serbia and Slovakia

Serbia:

15.          The Bureau was informed that the CCJE Declaration on the judicial reform in Serbia, as finalised during the 7th Bureau meeting (The Hague - The Netherlands -, 17 March 2010) was sent late April to the Serbian authorities. It noted the fact that the Venice Commission did not wish to join the CCJE in preparing this text, for the reason that the goals of both institutions are different.

16.          The Bureau welcomes the feedback from other international bodies on the issue, including, in particular, that of Mr Barroso, President of the European Commission, by a letter dated 27 April 2010.

Slovakia:

17.          The CCJE received on 12 February 2010 a request for practical assistance from a group of Slovak judges concerning difficulties regarding the relations between the judiciary and the other state powers, the composition and the operation of the High Council of the Judiciary of Slovakia, as well as the existing disciplinary procedures against judges.

18.          Mr Milan KARABIN, former member of the CCJE for Slovakia, has prepared, at the request of the President of the CCJE, a report giving further information on the situation in Slovakia. Yet, the Bureau believes it would be useful to gather further information and updates on the situation and instructs, for this purpose, the Secretariat to make a request to the Permanent Representation of Slovakia to the Council of Europe for the name of the current Slovak member of the CCJE in order for this person to organise, if necessary, a meeting within the targeted state.

19.          The Bureau also agrees to contact the Slovak judges’ association and instructs Mr Raffaele Sabato to write a note on the subject and transmit it to the Secretariat.

Italy:

20.          Mr Raffaele Sabato informed the Bureau that he attended a meeting at the Italian High Council for the Judiciary. The Bureau reiterates the strong support of the CCJE towards the Italian concerns regarding the intelligence activities in relation to judges and prosecutors. The Bureau agrees to include this item on the agenda of its next meeting.

21.          In general, the Bureau expresses concern about current reforms in a number of European states aiming to reduce the salaries of judges (Italy, Estonia, Portugal). It should agree to include this item on the agenda of its next meeting.

VII.      Follow-up of the revision of Recommendation (94)12

22.          The Bureau was informed that the Secretariat has sent to the CDCJ Bureau the document containing several amendments to the revised draft Recommendation (Document CCJE-BU(2010)2). The CDCJ Bureau should examine the document at its next meeting (15-17 June 2010)

VIII.     Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation on corruption

23.          At their 1077th meeting (24 February 2010), the Ministers’ Deputies agreed to forward Recommendation 1896 (2010) on judicial corruption to the CCJE for any further information or comments it might wish to submit before 15 April 2010.

24.          The Bureau was informed that the Secretariat sent a document stating the comments of the CCJE on the Recommendation (document CCJE-BU (2010)1).

IX.       Celebration of the 10th Anniversary

25.          The Bureau agreed to organise a special session to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the CCJE at the next CCJE plenary meeting in November. It proposes to invite a number of personalities, in particular the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, the President and judges of the European Court of Human Rights, the ambassadors, the national High Councils for the Judiciary as well as the representatives of international associations for judges and other Council of Europe bodies.

26.          This special session will include a presentation of the CCJE works by former presidents and an official presentation of the Magna Carta. It should also be an opportunity for a debate on the use of the Opinions in member states, on the ways to improve working methods within the Council and on the possible future works of the CCJE. The President of the CCJE suggests the possibility of organising a Portuguese music concert to complete the special session.

X. Relations with the European Union

27.          The Bureau suggests the idea of a meeting between the President of the CCJE and the President of the European Commission, Mr Barroso, to develop links between the European Commission and the CCJE, to publicize the activities of the CCJE at a European level (in particular as regards the practical assistance activities) and to propose drafting a European Code of Judicial Ethics.


Annexe I

DRAFT AGENDA / PROJET D’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, the President of the CCJE-GT and the Secretariat

            Informations par le Président du CCJE, le Président du CCJE-GT et le Secrétariat

4.                            Preparation of the 19th CCJE-GT meeting and the draft Opinion No.13

            Préparation de la 19ème réunion du CCJE-GT et du projet d’Avis n°13

5.                            Magna Charta of European judges

            Magna Charta des juges européens

6.                            Draft of the Council of Europe guidelines on child-friendly justice

            Projet de lignes directrices du Conseil de l’Europe sur une justice adaptée aux enfants

7.                            Information concerning :

            Information concernant :

a.      Practical assistance activities: Serbia, Slovakia

         Activités d’assistance pratique : Serbie, Slovaquie

b.      Follow-up of the revision of Recommendation (94) 12

         Suivi de la révision de la Recommandation (94) 12

c.      Recommendation 1896(2010) from the Parliamentary Assembly on judicial corruption

         Recommandation 1896(2010) de l’Assemblée parlementaire sur la corruption judiciaire

8.      Participation of the CCJE to other meetings in and outside the Council of Europe

         Participation du CCJE à d’autres réunions (au sein et hors Conseil de l’Europe)


ANNEXE II

PROJET DE MAGNA CHARTA (Français seulement)

Principes fondamentaux de la justice en Europe

1.        La justice constitue l’un des trois pouvoirs d’un Etat démocratique, dont le but est de garantir l’existence de l’Etat de droit et d’assurer aux justiciables la bonne application du droit.

2.        L’indépendance et l’impartialité du juge, qui doivent être garanties par rapport aux autres pouvoirs de l’Etat, aux justiciables et à la société en général, sont une condition préalable du bon fonctionnement de la justice.

3.        L’indépendance du juge doit être statutaire, fonctionnelle et économique. Elle doit être garantie par des règles internes au niveau le plus élevé.

4.        Elle implique que le juge soit inamovible et que les décisions sur sa sélection, nomination et carrière soient fondées sur des critères objectifs et prises par une autorité indépendante tel que le Conseil de la justice.

5.        Dans l’exercice de sa fonction de juger, le juge ne peut recevoir aucun ordre ou instruction et est seulement tenu au respect des règles de droit.

6.        Le juge doit avoir le contrôle de toutes les décisions administratives qui affectent directement l’exercice des fonctions judiciaires. 

7.        Après consultation du pouvoir judiciaire, l’Etat doit assurer un financement spécifique et suffisant, nécessaire au bon fonctionnement de la justice. Le juge doit bénéficier d’une rémunération et d’un système de retraite appropriées et garantie par la loi, qui le mette à l’abri de toute influence indue.

8.        Pour assurer l’indépendance du pouvoir judiciaire, chaque Etat doit créer un Conseil de la Justice ou une ou des instance(s) spécifique(s) indépendante(s), garantissant l’indépendance des juges et dotée des prérogatives les plus étendues pour toute question relatives à leur statut, à l’organisation, au fonctionnement et à l’image des institutions judiciaires. Une telle instance devrait être composée d’une majorité substantielle de juges élus par leurs pairs, pour éviter toute manipulation ou pression indue.

9.        La formation initiale et continue est un droit et un devoir pour le juge. Elle doit être organisée sous le contrôle du pouvoir judiciaire. La formation est un élément important pour garantir l’indépendance des juges et la qualité des décisions judiciaires.

Accès à la justice/Efficacité et qualité

10.      Le juge doit, dans l’intérêt des justiciables, participer à l’effort entrepris pour assurer l’accès à un règlement rapide, efficace et à un coût raisonnable des litiges.

11.      Le juge doit rendre des décisions de qualité et utiliser des techniques appropriées de case management.

Responsabilité /Transparence du fonctionnement de la justice/Accountability

Ethique et discipline