CCJE-BU(2019)7
Strasbourg, 20 September 2019
BUREAU OF THE CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL
OF EUROPEAN JUDGES
(CCJE-BU)
Report of the 27th meeting
Saverne, 19 June 2019
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 Judges (CCJE-BU) held its 27th meeting in Saverne on 19 June 2019. The meeting was chaired by Mr Duro SESSA (Croatia), President of the CCJE.
2. The following members of the Bureau were present:
· Ms Nina BETETTO (Slovenia), Vice-President of the CCJE;
· Ms Anke EILERS (Germany);
· Mr Kim LEWISON (United Kingdom).
3. The agenda is set out in Appendix I.
II. COMMUNICATION BY THE PRESIDENT, MEMBERS OF THE BUREAU AND THE SECRETARIAT
4. The President opened the meeting referring to the forthcoming celebration of the 20th anniversary of the CCJE, and proposed to think of inviting the President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to the CCJE plenary meeting in November 2019 in Strasbourg, and to have an exchange of opinions on the case law of the ECtHR as regards the situation of judges and their independence, as well as the contribution of the CCJE to the work and reflections of the ECtHR. The President underlined that the CCJE Opinions were being increasingly quoted in the judgments of the ECtHR, as well as in the judgments of national courts in member States, and in the reports and documents of the Council of Europe bodies, most notably of the Venice Commission.
5. The Bureau fully agreed with this proposal of the President and requested the Secretariat to take the corresponding steps during the preparation of the plenary meeting.
6. The President also referred to his presentation, on 6 February 2019, to the Committee of Ministers, where he drew the attention of the Ministers’ Deputies to the recently adopted Opinion No. 21 (2018) on preventing corruption among judges, as well as to the increasing role of the CCJE in identifying best European practices and providing standards of judicial profession.
7. The President went on by recalling that for preparing the CCJE Opinion in 2020, the topic of the role of judicial associations in upholding judicial independence was previously discussed, and suggested to present this topic for discussion with the Working Group and then for final discussion and adoption during the plenary meeting in November 2019. The President underlined that this topic was becoming more and more relevant. The Bureau agreed with this proposal and the timeliness of such topic for the CCJE Opinion in 2020.
8. The President also mentioned his visit to Warsaw to a workshop organised on 25 March 2019 by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on the situation of the judiciary in Poland. He presented to the participants the extensive work carried out by the CCJE on negative developments in Poland as regards the independence of the judiciary and discussed the current state of affairs and the follow-up.
9. The Vice-President referred to her participation, in February 2019, in a Rule of Law Conference organised in Tampere within the framework of the Finnish chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe where she emphasised the development of the CCJE standards and their application both at international and national level.
10. The President and the Vice-President would both participate, in November 2019, in the High-Level Meeting of the Global Judicial Integrity Network in Doha, Qatar, organised by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The President is the member of the Board of this Network. He mentioned the Network’s particular usefulness in developing the tools for training.
III. PREPARATION OF THE CCJE OPINION NO. 22 ON THE ROLE OF JUDICIAL ASSISTANTS WITHIN THE COURTS AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH JUDGES
11. The Bureau discussed the draft Opinion No. 22 (document CCJE-GT(2019)1Prov2), prepared by the CCJE expert, Prof. Dr. Anne SANDERS, with some amendments introduced by the Bureau, and praised it as an excellent document and good basis for discussions and further development of the Opinion during the forthcoming Working Group meeting (19-21 June 2019, Saverne).
12. The Bureau recalled that the concept of judicial assistant was interpreted in different ways by different member States, therefore in the draft, an attempt was made to clearly define what the CCJE meant by referring to such a concept. In most member States, judicial assistants don’t have any decision-making power, however, in some States they may have such power to some extent. The definition of judicial assistant should have two points: what is included in the concept of judicial assistant, and what is not included.
13. In the above-mentioned draft prepared by the CCJE expert, in addition to such definition, the judicial framework in which the judicial assistants can fit was also described. The draft Opinion also provided information about the current trends, as well as described categories and types of judicial assistants. The rationale for employing judicial assistants was also clearly identified.
IV. OTHER WORK OF THE CCJE
Follow-up to the Report of the CCJE Bureau on judicial independence and impartiality in the Council of Europe member States in 2017, prepared following the proposal of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and contributing to the implementation of the Council of Europe Plan of Action on strengthening judicial independence and impartiality
14. The Bureau discussed the preparation of the second edition of the Report on judicial independence and impartiality in the Council of Europe member States.
15. The first edition[1] was prepared in 2017 as a follow-up to the report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe – 2016 entitled “State of democracy, human rights and the rule of law - a security imperative for Europe” which proposed to “develop the methodology and establish a regular in-house evaluation mechanism on the independence and impartiality of the judiciaries of the Council of Europe member States”[2].
16. The Bureau agreed on the modalities of the process of preparation of the second edition of the report, in line with the above-mentioned proposal of the Secretary General, focusing on judicial independence and impartiality. In order to identify issues of concern in member States, request of relevant information was sent to all members and observers of the CCJE, and their responses would be integrated in the report, along with relevant references to the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, opinions of the Venice Commission, reports of the Human Rights Commissioner and of the Parliamentary Assembly.
17. The Bureau also emphasised that the preparation of this report would constitute, as it already did in 2017, follow-up to the Council of Europe Plan of Action on strengthening judicial independence and impartiality in member States[3].
V. OTHER ITEMS
18. The Bureau expressed its high appreciation for the invitation by the City of Saverne and its generous support for this meeting of the Bureau, as well as for the forthcoming meeting of the Working Group in Saverne.
19. The plenary meeting of the CCJE would take place on 6-8 November 2019 in Strasbourg.
APPENDIX I
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. Communication by the President, members of the Bureau and the Secretariat / Communication du Président, des membres du Bureau et du Secrétariat
4. Preparation of the 37th meeting of the CCJE-GT and the draft Opinion No. 22 on « The role of judicial assistants within the courts and their relations with judges » / Préparation de la 37ème réunion du CCJE-GT et du projet de l’Avis No. 22 sur « Le rôle des assistants de justice au sein des tribunaux et leurs relations avec les juges »
5. Follow-up to the Report of the CCJE Bureau on judicial independence and impartiality in the Council of Europe member States in 2017, prepared following the proposal of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and contributing to the implementation of the Council of Europe Plan of Action on strengthening judicial independence and impartiality / Suivi du Rapport du Bureau du CCJE sur l’indépendance et l’impartialité du pouvoir judiciaire dans les États membres du Conseil de l’Europe en 2017, établi sur la proposition du Secrétaire Général du Conseil de l’Europe et contribuant à la mise en œuvre du Plan d'Action du Conseil de l'Europe pour renforcer l’indépendance et l’impartialité du pouvoir judiciaire
6. Other work of the CCJE / Autres travaux du CCJE
· Participation of the CCJE in other meetings in and outside the Council of Europe / Participation du CCJE à d’autres réunions au sein et à l’extérieur du Conseil de l’Europe
7. Any other business / Divers