CCJE-BU(2018)8
Strasbourg, 24 October 2018
BUREAU OF THE CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL
OF EUROPEAN JUDGES
(CCJE-BU)
Report of the 25th meeting
Porto, 13 June 2018
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 25th meeting in Porto on 13 June 2018. 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;
· Mr George BIRMINGHAM (Ireland);
· Mr Mats MELIN (Sweden).
3. The agenda is set out in Appendix I.
II. COMMUNICATION BY THE PRESIDENT, MEMBERS OF THE BUREAU AND THE SECRETARIAT
4. The President informed the Bureau about the situation in Poland which remained very difficult, even though international community, including the Council of Europe and the European Union, continuously intervened, and the CCJE Bureau also prepared and sent several opinions on the legislative acts considered in Poland. The members of the Bureau agreed that this situation should continue to be watched very closely.
5. The President visited, in June 2018, a conference in Tbilisi. The Council of Europe office in Tbilisi translated all CCJE Opinions into Georgian and published in a brochure, which was presented during this conference. In Tbilisi, the President also had a meeting with the President of the Georgian Supreme Court who referred to introducing, in Georgia, of permanent mandate for judges, including for the Supreme Court judges, where their number would increase to 28 instead of current 12 appointed just for 10 years. The Supreme Court of Georgia was considering asking for the CCJE opinion as regards the question of evaluation of the Supreme Court judges’ work.
6. The President also went to Lisbon for meeting organised by the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ), made a presentation in Zagreb on the judicial system and the CCJE Opinions; met in Oslo with the President of the Venice Commission at the conference of the network of the electoral bodies and discussed the preparation of the opinion on Serbia which was going to be adopted in Venice later in June 2018.
7. Finally, the President visited a conference in Belgrade on the changes to the Constitution affecting the judiciary. The Group of State against Corruption (GRECO) was also present. In this context, the President referred to the Opinion of the CCJE Bureau adopted on 4 May 2018 following a request by the Judges’ Association of Serbia, where the Bureau negatively assessed the compatibility of the proposed amendments to the Constitution with European standards criticising in particular the amendments on dismissal of members of the High Judicial Council of Serbia, as well as on dismissal of judges, and also criticising the proposed composition and dissolution of this Council.
8. The President also mentioned the process of preparation for the forthcoming plenary meeting of the CCJE on 7-9 November 2018 in Zagreb,within the framework of the Croatian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. The Bureau members expressed their high appreciation to the President[1] for taking this initiative and his efforts for the efficient organisation of the meeting.
9. The Vice-President visited a meeting in Warsaw organised by the OSCE with participation of members of civil society, EU and UN discussing the difficult situation of the judiciary in Poland. The Vice-President also remained in touch with the Polish judiciary and heard very worrying reports about this situation. She mentioned that it would be important for the Polish judges to see that they were not alone facing the situation which was only getting worse[2].
III. PREPARATION OF THE CCJE OPINION NO. 21 ON PREVENTING CORRUPTION AMONG JUDGES
10. The Bureau discussed the draft Opinion No. 21, prepared by the CCJE expert, Dr Rainer HORNUNG (CCJE-GT(2018)1Prov2), and the process of the subsequent work expected during the forthcoming Working Group meeting (on 13-15 June 2018 in Porto).
11. The Bureau members observed in particular that this Opinion would be very important for the outside world; focus was needed because there were many substantial issues, for example, activities of judges outside their duties, relations between judges and law clerks, what should be the role of legal clerks and legal assistants in courts etc. There would be need to correlate the text of the Opinion with the earlier standards of the CCJE, for example, as regards the punitive accountability of judges.
12. The Bureau briefly exchanged comments relating to certain areas and fundamental concepts and formulated proposals to be discussed with the Working Group members during the forthcoming meeting. The Bureau also discussed the timetable for the future process of developing further the draft Opinion.
IV. OTHER WORK OF THE CCJE
13. As regards the situation of the judiciary in Poland[3], the Bureau discussed the letter of the Polish Judges Association “IUSTITIA" of 24 May 2018, addressed to the CCJE and referring to the extremely worrying situation with the independence of judges. In the letter, the CCJE was requested to announce its position on this situation and several concrete questions, including whether the process of replacement of 149 Polish court presidents and vice-presidents, formation of the new Polish National Council of the Judiciary, termination of the tenure of the Supreme Court’s First President and judges and the new model of disciplinary proceedings for judges were in accordance with the Council of Europe standards for judicial independence.
14. The Bureau members unanimously agreed that the situation in Poland was serious and the questions were very valid and timely, recalled the Bureau’s several previous opinions on the legislative acts proposed in Poland, and decided to prepare and publish, as soon as possible, its Statement as a response to this letter and on the overall situation of the judiciary in Poland.
15. The Bureau also discussed the letter from the Association of Judges of Montenegro of 1 June 2018 concerning alleged problems with setting up of the Judicial Council of Montenegro, as well as its composition, and requesting the CCJE’s comments on this subject.
16. The Bureau decided to examine this letter from the point of view of the CCJE standards as regards the Councils for the Judiciary, and possible ways of forming such councils, and to prepare and publish the Bureau’s Opinion.
17. The Bureau also discussed possible topics of the CCJE opinions in future and mentioned such topics as the role of Associations of Judges and the role of Constitutional Courts.
V. OTHER ITEMS
18. The Bureau expressed its high appreciation for the invitation of the Supreme Court of Justice of Portugal and its generous support for this meeting of the Bureau, as well as for the meeting of the Working Group in Porto.
19. The plenary meeting of the CCJE will take place on 7-9 November 2018 in Zagreb at the invitation of the Supreme Court and Ministry of Justice of Croatia and within the framework of the Croatian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers.
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 35th meeting of the CCJE-GT and the draft Opinion No. 21 on “Preventing corruption among judges” / Préparation de la 35èmeréunion du CCJE-GT et du projet de l’Avis No. 21 sur « Prévention de la corruption parmi les juges »
5. Follow-up to the report of the CCJE’s Bureau on the situation of judges in the member States / Suivi du rapport du Bureau du CCJE sur la situation des juges dans les Etats membres
6. Other work of the CCJE / Autres travaux du CCJE
7. Any other business / Divers