EJTN’s 2020 General Assembly held online to overcome raising challenges
- EJTN’s 2020 General Assembly was held online in unprecedent circumstances.
- Judge Markus Brückner elected last year reported for the first time of his term.
- The General Assembly approved the creation of the Working Group Linguistics.
The 23rd General Assembly of the European Judicial Training Network was held online on Friday 19th June 2020.
The unprecedent circumstances and challenges raising from the pandemic situation and confinement measures constrained to convert this annual face-to-face gathering into an online format.
Consequently, it has been decided to limit its agenda to the approval of mandatory and statutory obligations.
The EJTN is very grateful to the Croatian Judicial Academy for its support to overcome this situation.
The 2020 EJTN General Assembly was opened with welcome addresses by the Host and President of the General Assembly, Ms Andrea Posavec Franić, Director of the Judicial Academy of Croatia as well as by Judge Markus Brückner, Secretary General of the EJTN. The delegates enjoyed prestigious greetings from Judge Duro Sessa, President of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, and a keynote speech from Mr Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice.
Following the speeches, the EJTN Secretary General reported on EJTN’s 2020 Activities and the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, and presented the ambitious 2021 Work Programme.
In a time-honoured tradition, an annual report was provided by EJTN’s Steering Committee Chair, Mr Gerard Tangenberg, President of the Board of the Training and Study Centre for the Judiciary (SSR) from the Netherlands, who provided amongst other items of report a thorough presentation of the state of implementation of the EJTN Strategic Plan 2021–2027 adopted by the previous General Assembly in 2019.
The event was particularly important as the General Assembly approved the creation of a Working Group Linguistics, whose Convener, the Czech Judicial Academy was elected in the continuity of its involvement in the previous Sub-Working Group Linguistics. The newly created Working Group will address the language skills challenges faced by European Magistrates that is of strategic importance as contained in the EJTN Strategic Plan 2021 – 2027, not only to build strong ties between the different judiciaries, but also for EJTN as a network.
Mr Churou Kone, EJTN’s Accounting Manager, as well as Ms Wiebke Dettmers and Dr Alexander Pirker, EJTN’s Internal Auditors presented the EJTN’s 2019 accounts which were then unanimously approved.
The meeting was closed on future perspectives, with the announcement of a Directors Conference or an extraordinary General Assembly in the autumn 2020 and the presentation on the next General Assembly, under the future Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, by Mr. Joao Miguel, Director of the Portuguese Center for Judicial Studies.
Closing speeches by Judge Markus Brückner and Andrea Posavec Franić then marked the end of the 2020 General Assembly.
EJTN will proudly continue providing top-quality training and resources to Europe’s judiciary and delivering outstanding value for money and operational transparency for its Members and stakeholders.
Composition of the new Working Group Linguistics
Judicial Training Institute (Belgium)
National Institute of Justice (Bulgaria)
Judicial Academy (Croatia)
Judicial Academy (Czech Republic) - Convener
Academy of European Law
National School for the Judiciary (France)
Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (Germany)
National School of Judiciary (Greece)
Office of the National Council for the Judiciary (Hungary)
School for the Judiciary (Italy)
Latvian Judicial Training Centre (Latvia)
National Courts Administration (Lithuania)
Office of the Prosecutor General (Lithuania)
Training and Study Centre for the Judiciary (the Netherlands)
National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution (Poland)
National Institute of Magistracy (Romania)
Ministry of Justice (Slovenia)
Judicial School of the General Council of the Judiciary (Spain)
The Centre for Legal Studies (Spain)