CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN JUDGES (CCJE)

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF JUDGES

Judicial integrity and corruption

Strasbourg, 7 November 2017

AGORA, Room G 03

AGENDA

09.00 Registration of participants

Moderator: Mr Nils Engstad, Judge of the Hålogaland Court of Appeal, Tromsø, Norway, President of the CCJE

09.30 Opening of the conference

· Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

· Mr Nils Engstad, President of the CCJE

09.50 Fighting judicial corruption – findings and recommendations of the 4^th monitoring cycle of the Group of States against corruption (GRECO)

Speaker: Mr Marin Mrčela, Vice-President of the Supreme Court of Croatia, President of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)

10.30 Discussion

11.00 Coffee break

11.30 What are the main threats to the judicial integrity in European States?

ü Conflicts of interests (career of the judge, secondary activities and incompatibilities, political involvement)

ü Pressure on individual judges (financial, political or other)

Speaker: Mr Alain Lacabarats, President of Chamber of the Cassation Court of France, Member of the CCJE

11.50 How to prevent corruption and other breaches in judicial integrity from outside the judiciary? The role of the executive and legislative powers

Speaker: Mr Paul Maffei, President of the Cassation Court of Belgium, Member of the CCJE

12.15 Discussion

12.45 Lunch break

Moderator: Mr Duro Sessa, President of the Supreme Court of Croatia, Vice-President of the CCJE

14.30 The responsibility of the judiciary in preventing judicial corruption

ü Judicial training

ü Ethical rules

ü Internal organisation of the courts and court activities

ü Discussions within the judiciary

Speaker: Mr José Igreja Matos, Judge at the Court of Appeal of Porto, Portugal, President of the European Association of Judges (EAJ)

14.50 Discussion

15.15 How to address breaches in judicial integrity and corruption?

ü Within the judiciary: implementation of codes of ethics, disciplinary proceedings, sanctions

ü Through criminal law

ü Communication around integrity breaches

Speaker: Ms Aneta Arnaudovska, Judge, Director of the Academy of Judges and Prosecutors of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, Member of the CCJE

15.40 Discussion

16.00 Coffee break

16.30 Concluding session: what could be expected from a specific Opinion by the CCJE on judicial integrity and corruption?

General discussion: opinions and proposals by participants

17.00 Closing the Conference - main conclusions by Ms Nina Betetto, Judge of the Supreme Court of Slovenia, member of the CCJE, and Mr George Birmingham, Judge of the Court of Appeal of Ireland, member of the CCJE Bureau