CCPE(2020)3
Strasbourg, 19 November 2020
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN PROSECUTORS (CCPE)
15th plenary meeting
Online, 18-19 November 2020
ABRIDGED MEETING REPORT
A. FOREWORD
1. The Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE) held its 15th plenary meeting online on 18-19 November 2020. It was chaired by José Manuel SANTOS PAIS (Portugal), President of the CCPE. The agenda is appended to the present report.
B. ITEMS SUBMITTED TO THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS FOR DECISION
2. The CCPE invited the Committee of Ministers:
a. to take note of Opinion No. 15 (2020) entitled “The role of prosecutors in emergency situations, in particular when facing a pandemic";
and to note that this document would be forwarded to the relevant bodies in the member States, which would be encouraged to translate it into appropriate languages if need be, and to the relevant bodies of the Council of Europe in order that they may take account of it in their work;
b. to take note of this report as a whole.
C. LIST OF ITEMS DISCUSSED AND DECISIONS TAKEN BY THE CCPE
The CCPE
3. adopted its Opinion No. 15 (2020) entitled “The role of prosecutors in emergency situations, in particular when facing a pandemic", subject to possible amendments on the form by its Bureau, which is entrusted to have any such amendments introduced if needed, in order to ensure consistency between the English and French versions;
decided to submit it to the Committee of Ministers to take note of it; invited member States to ensure its distribution as widely as possible among decision-makers and professionals of justice, including its translation where needed;
4. welcomed the information provided by the CCPE President and Vice-President, as well as by other members, about their efforts to disseminate the CCPE Opinions and standards and promote their implementation at national level;
5. welcomed the information provided by the CCPE President about his participation in the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 12 February 2020, in the 8th annual meeting between the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the Heads of monitoring and advisory bodies on 29 June 2020, and in other events where the CCPE President had presented and explained the key standards and norms developed by the CCPE;
6. recalled, in the context of increasing threats to judicial independence in the Council of Europe member States, the 2018 Report by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the State of Democracy, Human Rights and Rule of Law in Europe focusing on the role of institutions and threats to institutions;
7. underlined that it was at the disposal of the Committee of Ministers and other bodies of the Council of Europe (particularly the Secretary General and the Parliamentary Assembly) to prepare opinions concerning the specific situation of prosecutors in given member States;
8. decided to focus its 2021 Opinion on the implications of the decisions of international courts and treaty bodies as regards the practical independence of prosecutors and instructed its Bureau and the Working Group appointed for 2021 to prepare a draft Opinion on this issue to be adopted at its 16th plenary meeting;
9. noted in this regard that the above-mentioned topic had initially been selected for 2020, however it was then changed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic to a new topic for the CCPE Opinion in 2020, and therefore it was decided to work on the topic of implications of the decisions of international courts and treaty bodies as regards the practical independence of prosecutors in 2021;
10. appointed Alessandra GIRALDI (Denmark), Mikael JÄRETOFT (Sweden), Davit MELKONYAN (Armenia), Antonio MURA (Italy), Aivars OSTAPKO (Latvia), Ali RIZA ÜLKER (Turkey), Laura VAIK (Estonia), Cédric VISART de BOCARME (Belgium), Vladimir ZIMIN (Russian Federation) as members, and Milica ANDJELIĆ-MANDIĆ (Montenegro), Angela MOTUZOC (Moldova), Sava PETROV (Bulgaria), Peter POLT (Hungary), Runar TORGERSEN (Norway) as substitute members of the Working Group responsible for preparing the 2021 draft Opinion to be submitted to the 16th plenary meeting of the CCPE;
11. elected Antonio VERCHER NOGUERA (Spain) as President, and Han MORAAL (The Netherlands) as Vice-President for 2021;
12. thanked José Manuel SANTOS PAIS (Portugal) and Antonio VERCHER NOGUERA (Spain) for their outstanding work and contributions as, respectively, President and Vice-President in 2019 and 2020;
13. elected José Manuel SANTOS PAIS (Portugal) and Jana ZEZULOVA (Czech Republic) as members of the Bureau for 2021-2022;
14. designated Gordana BOSILJCIC (Bosnia and Herzegovina) as the Gender Equality Rapporteur for 2021;
15. proposed to hold its 16th plenary meeting on 25-26 November 2021;
16. proposed to hold the 28th and 29th meetings of the Working Group on 18-19 February 2021 and 17-18 June 2021, respectively;
17. thanked in that regard the member of the CCPE in respect of Italy, Antonio MURA, for the proposal to discuss the possibility of organising the 29th meeting of the Working Group on 17-18 June 2021 in Rome, subject to the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic;
18. noted that the decision concerning the venue of the meetings would be taken at a later stage, according to the rules of the Council of Europe.
APPENDIX I
AGENDA
1. Adoption of the agenda
2. Information by the President, the CCPE members and the Secretariat
3. CCPE Opinion No. 15 (2020)
· Examination, with a view of its adoption, of draft Opinion No. 15 on “The role of prosecutors in emergency situations, in particular when facing a pandemic”
4. Working methods of the CCPE
· Election of the President and of the Vice-President of the CCPE for 2021
· Election of members of the CCPE Bureau for 2021 and 2022
· Appointment of the CCPE Working Group for 2021
· Appointment of the CCPE Gender Equality Rapporteur for 2021
5. Calendar of the CCPE’s and CCPE-GT’s meetings in 2021
6. Any other business