Description : NB_CE

CCPE-BU(2015)3

Strasbourg, 26 October 2015

BUREAU of the CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL

OF EUROPEAN PROSECUTORS

(CCpE-BU)

Report of the 23rd meeting

Paris, 24 June 2015

Document prepared by the Secretariat

Directorate General I – Human Rights and Rule of Law


I.              INTRODUCTION

1.            The Bureau of the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE) held its 23rd meeting in Paris on 24 June 2015. The meeting was chaired by Mr Cedric VISART de BOCARME (Belgium), President of the CCPE.

2.            The following Bureau members were also present:

-       Ms Alessandra GIRALDI (Denmark), Vice-President of the CCPE;

-       Mr Peter McCORMICK (Ireland);

-       Mr Han MORAAL (The Netherlands).

3.             The agenda is set out in Appendix I.

II.            COMMUNICATION by the President, members OF THE BUREAU AND THE SECRETARIAT[1]

4.            The President informed of his participation in the meeting in Venice with the Georgian authorities and NGOs to discuss the proposals made by the CCPE, together with the Venice Commission, on the draft amendments to the Law on Prosecutor’s Office.

5.            He also informed of his participation in the International Conference on the Promotion and Implementation of the Convention on the Manipulation of Sport Competitions in Oslo, on 17-18 March 2015. The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat of the CCPE to contact the Secretariat of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) to discuss the possible future CCPE’s involvement in its activities.

III.           Follow-up of the SG Report

6.            The Bureau discussed the CCPE’s involvement in the follow-up to the recent report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe entitled “State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe” in which he entrusted the CCPE to prepare, together with the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE), a “comprehensive review of the main challenges for judicial impartiality and independence in the member states”.

7.            The invitation of the Secretary General to meet with the members of the CCJE and CCPE Bureaus (called “joint CCJE/CCPE Task Force”) on 3 July 2015 was welcomed. A scientific expert would be engaged to prepare the text under the guidance of the Task Force. The document should be ready in the beginning of December 2015, therefore a rather intensive work would be anticipated. The Task Force would meet at least two times, on the day before the CCJE plenary meeting on 13 October 2015, and then on the day before the CCPE plenary meeting on 18 November 2015.

IV.           PREPARATION OF the Opinion No. 10 on the action of prosecutors within the framework of criminal investigation

8.            The members of the Bureau discussed the draft Opinion No. 10 on the action of prosecutors within the framework of criminal investigation (document CCPE-GT(2015)4REV1) which resulted from a collective effort of all members of the Working Group and the Secretariat. The Bureau decided to submit this draft to the CCPE Working Group during its 17th meeting (25-26 June 2015) for revision and further development.


V.            OTHER WORK OF THE CCPE[2]

9.            The topics of future opinions of the CCPE were discussed, with a view to further discussing these topics during the next plenary meeting. It was decided to suggest to the CCPE the main two following topics:

i)      quality and efficiency of the work of prosecutors (how to measure the quality and the efficiency of work provided? are there indicators? how can prosecutors contribute to improve the quality of the whole justice system? what could be improved in the training programmes as regards quality and efficiency?);

ii)     victims and vulnerable persons in the criminal investigations and the role of prosecutors in protecting their rights.

10.          The Bureau decided to prepare a draft reply to the numerous complaints relating to the functioning of prosecution services in Turkey, to be published in September after consultation of the CCPE.

11.          Considering the increasing number of complaints addressed to the CCPE as well as the number of requests to represent the CCPE in various fora, the Bureau proposed to create an “experts bank” on the basis of voluntaries capable to respond more quickly to these requests.

VI.           OTHER ITEMS

12.          The CCPE plenary meeting would take place in Strasbourg on 19-20 November 2015. The Bureau would propose to the CCPE to take the opportunity of its plenary meeting organised at the same dates to attend the World Forum for Democracy on the theme “Freedom vs control: for a democratic response”.


Appendix I

AGENDA

1.         Opening of the meeting / Ouverture de la réunion

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

3.         Preparation of the CCPE Opinion No. 10 on the action of prosecutors within the framework of criminal investigation / Préparation de l’Avis No. 10 sur l’action des procureurs dans le cadre d’une enquête pénale

4.         Follow-up to the report of the Secretary General “State of Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Europe – A shared responsibility for democratic security in Europe” / Suivi du rapport du Secrétaire Général “Situation de la démocratie des droits de l’homme et de l’Etat de droit en Europe – La sécurité démocratique, une responsabilité partagée”

·                Meeting with the Secretary General / Réunion avec le Secrétaire Général

·                Establishment of a Task Force jointly with the CCJE / Etablissement d’une Task Force en coopération avec le CCJE

·                Calendar of meetings / Calendrier des travaux

5.         Preparation of other items of the CCPE-GT meeting / Préparation des autres points de la réunion du CCPE-GT

·                Requests of specific assistance / Demandes d’assistance spécifique

6.         Any other business / Divers

·                Next meeting / Prochaine réunion



[1] For more details, see the report on the 17th meeting of the CCPE Working Group in Paris on 25-26 June 2015, document CCPE-GT(2015)6, paras 3-19.  

[2] Ibid., paras 23-28.