The President of the Supreme Court Took Part in the XI Conference of Chief Justices of Central and Eastern Europe

The XI Conference of Chief Justices of Central and Eastern Europe was held on October 17-20 in Slovenia (Bled) within the framework of cooperation with the Institute of the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative (CEELI Institute).

The conference focused on the institutional and individual independence of the judiciary, the role of judicial councils in the judiciary, the efficiency of justice, access to justice and the fight against the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his welcoming speech, Senior Circuit Judge John Walker, one of the founders of the event, stressed the importance of the position of the President of the Supreme Court, which guides the development of the rule of law in his country.

According to him, the independence of the judiciary is inextricably linked with the independence of each individual judge. "No one is above the law. The right is equal for all", the judge emphasized. The Chair of the CEELI Institute, Homer E. Moyer, added that the courts were the foundation of an independent state.

The President of the Supreme Court, Valentyna Danishevska, noted that in a democratic country, the judiciary, aware of its role and responsibility, must defend its independence guaranteed by the Constitution and fight for that independence.

Institutional independence is necessary for the proper functioning of constitutional democracy under the rule of law.

The participants of the conference exchanged ideas and shared their experience in solving problems common to the Supreme Courts, as well as stressed the importance of holding meetings in this format.

Lina Hubar, Head of the Division of International and Legal Cooperation of the Supreme Court, also took part in the conference.

Note. The Conference annually brings together chief justices to share experiences, develop strategies and best practices to strengthen the integrity of judges, accountability, improve judicial governance and combat corruption in the courts.

The conferences were held by the Supreme Courts of the Czech Republic (2011), Albania (2012), Montenegro (2013), Georgia (2014), Croatia (2015), Serbia (2016), Hungary (2017), Lithuania (2018) and Slovakia (2019), Azerbaijan (2020) online.

Among the most notable achievements of the conferences is the signing in 2015 of the Statement of Principles of the Independence of the Judiciary (Brijuni Statement) following the work of the Conference in Croatia (the Brijuni islands). The Statement was signed by the leaders of 19 countries and has been translated into six languages.