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MINISTERS’ DEPUTIES |
CM Documents |
CM(2026)15 |
19 January 2026[1] |
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1551st meeting, 25 February 2026 10 Legal questions
10.2 Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) a. Abridged report of the 26thplenary meeting (Strasbourg, 12-14 November 2025) Item to be considered by the GR-J at its meeting on 12 February 2026 |
Opening of the meeting and adoption of the agenda
The Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE) held its 26thplenary meeting in Strasbourg on 12‑14 November 2025, with Leonie Reynolds (Ireland) in the Chair.
The agenda of the meeting is contained in the Appendix. The list of participants is available on the CCJE’s webpage.
List of items for decision by the Committee of Ministers
The CCJE invited the Committee of Ministers:
a. to take note of Opinion No. 28 (2025) on the importance of judicial well-being for the delivery of justice (see document CM(2026)15-add), which will be forwarded to the competent authorities in the member States while encouraging its translation into appropriate languages if need be, and to the relevant bodies of the Council of Europe, so that they can take account of it in their own work;
b. to take note of this report as a whole.
List of items for information of the Committee of Ministers
The CCJE
- adopted its Opinion No. 28 (2025) on the importance of judicial well-being for the delivery of justice subject to possible editorial amendments by its Bureau, which was entrusted with making any such amendments, if needed, and also ensuring consistency between the English and French versions;
- decided to submit it to the Committee of Ministers to take note of it and to invite member States to ensure its dissemination as widely as possible among decision-makers and professionals of justice, including through its translation where needed;
- adopted the CCJE comments in respect of the case of Kuijt v. the Netherlands (application no. 19365/19) pending before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, following the invitation of the President of the European Court of Human Rights under Article 36 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and decided to forward these comments to the Court;
- welcomed the 2025 Report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe entitled “Towards a New Democratic Pact for Europe” which quoted the CCJE’s Opinion No. 27 (2024) on the disciplinary liability of judges, as regards the need for robust safeguards at the constitutional or legislative level and their effective implementation in practice. The same Report also quoted the CCJE’s Opinion No. 26 (2023) entitled “Moving forward: the use of assistive technology in the judiciary”, in particular stressing that technology should serve to support and strengthen the rule of law;
- took note of the information provided by Ms Leonie Reynolds (Ireland), President of the CCJE, underlining the importance of the work of the CCJE in the overall context of the Council of Europe, as reflected in the Secretary General’s above-mentioned Report, and the Reykjavík Principles for Democracy adopted at the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Reykjavík, Iceland, 16-17 May 2023), which stress the commitment of member States to ensuring the independence and impartiality of the judiciary;
- took note of the information provided by the President, as well as by the Vice-President and members of the Bureau, on the CCJE activities in 2025 and their participation in various events contributing to higher awareness of the standards developed by the CCJE;
- also took note of the statements of the CCJE members underlining reforms of legal and justice systems and legislation in their respective member States and their continued efforts to introduce and promote the implementation of the CCJE standards; welcomed the increasing use of the CCJE standards in such context;
- welcomed the continued close co-operation between the CCJE and other bodies and institutions of the Council of Europe, and in particular with the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) and the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission);
- took note in this respect of the recently adopted Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer, and noted its significance as the first instrument of its kind aimed at safeguarding the legal profession as an essential component of the good functioning of justice systems;
- took note of the adoption by the Committee of Ministers at its 134th Session (14 May 2025, Luxembourg) of the Strategy on the Environment and its Action Plan; noted that Action 4.3 of the Action Plan deals with the development of co-operation on the role of judges and prosecutors in environment-related cases; and also took note of the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law;
- also took note in this respect of the adoption by the CEPEJ at its plenary meeting on 3‑4 December 2024 of the Guidelines on the evaluation of the quality of work of judges which used, among other sources, the CCJE Opinion No. 17 (2014) on the evaluation of judges’ work, the quality of justice and respect for judicial independence;
- welcomed the continued use of the CEPEJ and Venice Commission’s standards in the CCJE Opinions and other documents, and also the use by the CEPEJ and the Venice Commission of the CCJE standards and recommendations; also noted the continued references to the CCJE Opinions by the European Court of Human Rights in its judgments;
- adopted the rules on membership and working methods of the CCJE based on the Terms of Reference of the CCJE for 2024-2027;
- reiterated that it remains at the disposal of the Committee of Ministers and other bodies of the Council of Europe (particularly the Secretary General and the Parliamentary Assembly) and of the CCJE members to prepare opinions and other texts concerning the specific situation of judges in member States;
- entrusted, in this regard, the Bureau of the CCJE to prepare, adopt and publish such opinions and other texts concerning the specific situation of judges in member States;
- decided to proceed in 2026 with the preparation of the Opinion No. 29 (2026) focusing on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the work of judges, which is in line with the greater emphasis put within the Council of Europe on issues related to the artificial intelligence, including the recently adopted Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, and instructed its Bureau and the Working Group of 2026 to prepare a draft Opinion on this topic for adoption at its 27th plenary meeting in 2026;
- decided to continue entrusting the Bureau of the CCJE with the organisation of the thematic studies of the CCJE, and organise in particular the preparation, in co-operation with the Secretariat, of the thematic study in 2026 on the role of judges in the protection of the environment, taking into account the recently adopted Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law, and which will serve as a groundwork for developing the relevant standards in one of the future CCJE Opinions;
- elected José Igreja Matos (Portugal) as President, and Wiggo Larssen (Norway) as Vice-President for 2026; and warmly thanked Leonie Reynolds (Ireland) for her outstanding contribution to the work of the CCJE;
- elected Marc de Werd (The Netherlands) and Björg Thorarensen (Iceland) as members of the Bureau for 2026-2027;
- appointed Anke Eilers (Germany), Viktor Gorodovenko (Ukraine), Gianluca Grasso (Italy), Kim Lewison (United Kingdom), Björn Linden (Sweden), Ghenadie Мirа (Republic of Moldova), Leonie Reynolds (Ireland), Duro Sessa (Croatia), Diana Tămagă (Romania), Ketevan Tsintsadze (Georgia) as members, and Valéry Turcey (France), Maiia Rousseva (Bulgaria) as substitute members of the Working Group responsible for preparing the draft Opinion in 2026 to be submitted to the 27th plenary meeting of the CCJE;
- appointed Yvonne Summer (Austria) as the Gender Equality Rapporteur for 2026;
- decided to hold its 27th plenary meeting in Strasbourg on 23-25 November 2026;
- decided to hold the 50th and 51st meetings of the Working Group on 28-30 April 2026 and 24-26 June 2026, respectively.
Resource implications
The financing of the activities described in this report is assured.
Evaluation of completed activities
The Committee expressed its satisfaction with the adoption of Opinion No. 28 (2025) on the importance of judicial well-being for the delivery of justice on 14 November 2025.
Any changes to the composition of the Committee Bureau
The CCJE elected José Igreja Matos (Portugal) as President, and Wiggo Larssen (Norway) as Vice-President for 2026. The CCJE also elected Marc de Werd (The Netherlands) and Björg Thorarensen (Iceland) as members of the Bureau for 2026-2027.
Appendix
Agenda
1. Opening of the meeting
2. Adoption of the agenda and order of business
3. Information by the President, the Bureau and the Secretariat
4. Draft Opinion No. 28 (2025) of the CCJE on the importance of judicial well-being for the delivery of justice (specific task i)
· Examination, with a view to its adoption, of draft Opinion No. 28 (2025)
5. Exchange of views on the CCJE’s activities in 2026 as well as future priorities and focus areas (main task ii) including:
· Discussion and adoption of the document on membership and working methods of the CCJE
· Discussion and adoption of the CCJE comments in respect of the case of Kuijt v. the Netherlands (application no. 19365/19) pending before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights
· Tour de Table on topical developments in member States in the area of justice reforms and independence of justice and other relevant events
7. Elections (Bureau) and appointments (Rapporteurs)
7.1 Election of the President and of the Vice-President
7.2 Election of the members of the Bureau
7.3 CCJE Working Group for 2026
7.4 Appointment of a CCJE Gender Equality Rapporteur
8. Any other business
9. Date and place of next meetings
10. Approval of the draft meeting report