Report from the conference “Training of the judiciary and judicial staff in the European Union”
© Chrystèle Lacène
- On: 22.07.2008
- In: Bordeaux
On 21 and 22 July in Bordeaux , Rachida Dati brought together those involved in judicial training in the European Union with the ultimate aim of defining a European body of training.
This meeting at the Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature (French National School for the Judiciary) in Bordeaux brought together judges, prosecutors, registrars, lawyers, court officials, notaries and heads of European prisons and probation staff. Addresses by Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission, Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, Diana Wallis, Vice-President of the European Parliament together with Rachida Dati’s counterparts from the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic all contributed to defining a common basis for legal training in Europe.
The principle of mutual recognition of legal decisions within the EU requires the judiciary of Member States to recognise judgements handed down by foreign judiciaries as having the same weight as legal decisions handed down in its own country. This principle makes increased knowledge of European law and the legal systems of the other member states indispensable. It was pointed out that mutual trust, without which the mutual recognition principle cannot be applied in practice, needs to be constantly maintained if judicial cooperation is to operate correctly. The European Commission reasserted its determination to continue to support training at a European level but stressed that EU funding could only complement that from the Member States. Heads of schools for the judiciary, as well as heads of ministerial departments and practitioners discussed what values would form the basis of a judicial culture common to those involved in Justice in Europe.
They then discussed the minimum knowledge which all those in the EU should share. They agreed that at this stage there is inadequate knowledge of European law and familiarity with the legal systems of other Member States. The value of mastering a foreign language was stressed since it allows direct contact between professionals.
The legal professions, which organise the training of their members independently, also argued for training modules and teaching materials to be devised in common, in close cooperation with the judiciary.
Agreement was reached on the need to devote more resources to the existing training bodies, in particular the European Judicial Training Network, in order to move towards a genuine "Erasmus for judges" in Europe.
- Updated: 23.07.2008
