Transcript European Day of Civil Justice Seminar on European Cooperation in civil matters Implementation of the Stockholm Programme.

European Day of Civil Justice
Seminar on European Cooperation in civil matters
Implementation of the Stockholm Programme
Stockholm Programme
 multi-annual strategic work programme
 sets out priorities for the development of a
European area of freedom, security and
justice in the period 2010–2014.
 adopted under the Swedish Presidency by the
Council on 30 November 2009 and endorsed
by the European Council on 10-11 December
2009.
Stockholm Programme
 It is a follow up, of the Tampere Programme
(2000-2004) and the Hague Programme
(2005-2009).
 The interests and needs of citizens are the
main priority for the coming years.
 The challenge is to ensure respect for
fundamental freedoms and integrity while
guaranteeing security in Europe.
Policy priorities
 Promoting citizen rights- a Europe of rights
 Making life easier for citizens- a Europe of
justice
 Protecting citizens- a Europe that protects:
 Promoting a more integrated society for the
citizen- a Europe of solidarity
• Europe in a globalised world – the external
dimension of freedom,security and justice
Making life easier for citizens- a Europe of
justice
 Consolidation of the achievement of a
European area of justice
 Priority to mechanisms that facilitate people’s
access to the courts
 Improving the training of and cooperation
between public professionals
 Mobilising resources to eliminate barriers to
the recognition of legal decisions in other
Member States.
Instruments
 mutual trust,
 full and effective implementation, evaluation of
existing instruments
 training
 increased coherence between external and internal
elements of the work in the area of freedom,
security and justice
 communication
 dialogue with civil society
 financing
Making life easier for citizens- a Europe of
justice
 principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions:
cornerstone of judicial cooperation in both civil and
criminal matters.
 Therefore, mutual trust needed to be strengthened
by progressively developing a European judicial
culture based on the diversity of legal systems and
unity through European law
 This is one of the main challenges for the future.
Strengthening mutual trust
The main policy objective in the area of civil procedural
law:
– is that borders between Member States should not
constitute an obstacle either to the settlement of civil
matters or to initiating court proceedings, or to the
enforcement of decisions in civil matters.
– Efforts to improve the efficiency of their judicial systems by
encouraging exchanges of best practice and the
development of innovative projects relating to the
modernisation of justice are important.
Making life easier for citizens- a Europe of
justice
Strengthening mutual trust by
 establishing minimum rights as necessary for the
development of the principle of mutual recognition
 Making access to justice in the European judicial area
easier, particularly in cross-border proceedings,
 overcome the language barriers that obstruct their
access to justice
 Making use of e- justice in all areas of civil, criminal
and administrative law
Furthering the implementation of
mutual recognition by
 process of abolishing all intermediate measures (the
exequatur) accompanied with necessary safeguards
 Extension of Mutual recognition to fields that are
not yet covered but are essential to everyday life,
 Ex succession and wills, matrimonial property rights and
the property consequences of the separation of couples,
while taking into consideration Member States’ legal
systems, including public policy, and national traditions in
this area.
Furthering the implementation of
mutual recognition by
 Continuation of the process of harmonising conflictof-law rules at Union level in areas where it is
necessary, (ex. separation and divorces, company
lawn insurance contracts)
 Consolidation of the instruments adopted so far in
the area of judicial cooperation in civil matters by
streamlining the existing instruments.
 The aim to ensure the coherence and userfriendliness of the instruments, thus ensuring a more
efficient and uniform application thereof
Training
To foster a genuine European judicial and law
enforcement culture and to strengthen mutual trust,
– essential to step up training on Union-related issues
– systematically accessible for all professions involved in the
implementation of the area of freedom, security and
justice.
– This includes judges, prosecutors, judicial staff, police and
customs officers and border guards.
– Aim to make it part of national curricula.
– Member States have the primary responsibility in this
respect, but the Union must give their efforts support and
financial backing and also be able to have its own
mechanisms to supplement national effort.
Training
• The ambition
– a substantive number of professionals by 2015 will have
participated in a European Training Scheme or in an
exchange programme with another Member State, which
might be part of training schemes that are already in place.
For this purpose existing training institutions should in
particular be used.
• Safeguarding judicial independence while at the
same time placing the emphasis on the European
Dimension for professionals that use European
Instruments frequently
• Solutions on European Level could be sought with a
view to strengthening European Training schemes.
Implementation
 the full and effective implementation, enforcement
and evaluation of existing instruments.
 The development of action at Union level should
involve Member States’ expertise and consider a
range of measures, including non-legislative
solutions such as agreed handbooks, sharing of best
practice (inter alia, making best use of the European
Judicial Networks) and regional projects that address
those needs, in particular where they can produce a
fast response.
Increased coherence
Enhancing the internal coordination in order to
achieve greater coherence between external and
internal elements of the work in the area of freedom,
security and justice.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of the legal instruments
adopted at Union level.
 This is also necessary to determine any obstacles to
the proper functioning of the European judicial area.
 It should focus on specific problems and therefore
facilitate full application of the mutual recognition
principle.
Communication
 Ways of Communicating the achievements and concrete
results of the policy in the area of freedom, security and
justice to citizens, businesses and professionals.
 Devising a strategy on how best to explain to citizens how
they can benefit from the new tools and legal frameworks, for
instance through the use of e-Justice and the e-Justice Portal.
Dialogue with civil society
 The Union institutions, within the framework of their
competences, should hold an open, transparent and regular
dialogue with representative associations and civil society
 Specific mechanisms, such as the European Justice Forum, in
areas where such mechanisms are appropriate.
The benefits for citizens of a
European judicial area :
Access to justice:
• European Council considers that e-Justice presents
an excellent opportunity to provide easier access to
justice. And asks for the implementation of projects
included in the action plan e- justice 2009-2013
• The European Council invites the Commission to:
propose actions to facilitate access to justice,
especially in terms of legislation relating to civil
status documents, and to support economic activity,
such as legislative proposals on the enforcement of
judgements.
Increasing the Union’s international
presence in the legal field
• The European Council considers that clearly
defining Union external interests and priorities
in the area of judicial cooperation in civil
matters is very important with a view to
interacting with third countries in a secure
legal environment.
Action Plan implementing the Stockholm
Programme
• In Stockholm Programme,
– Commission was invited to present an action plan
translating the programme text into concrete proposals,
together with a timetable for the implementation of the
proposed measures.
– On 20 April 2010, the Commission presented its
Communication “Delivering an area of freedom, security
and justice for Europe's citizens - Action Plan
Implementing the Stockholm Programme"
Action Plan
• The JAI Council of 3- 4 June 2010 took note of
the Commissions communication and stressed
that the action plan should more closely
mirror the objectives set out in the Stockholm
Programme itself.
Looking at the future
Together with the Commission who has the
initiative right, the Spanish, Belgian and
Hungarian Presidencies have joined their
efforts in order to assure the implementation
of the Stockholm Programme.
Working groups under Belgian
Presidency
•
•
•
•
•
•
E- justice
General questions
Successions
Rome III
Contract law
Seminars
E-justice
 European e-Justice project
 Launch of the e- justice portal during its
informal meeting in July Help to reduce the
costs, delays, distance and difference of
language in the context of cross-border
proceedings.
 This is one of many steps in the process of the
computerisation of justice
E-justice
 https://e-justice.europa.eu/home.do
 Portal is intended to serve as "one-stop shop"
for the whole e-Justice system,
 3 basic functions :
– provide access to information in the field of
justice.
– aims at the dematerialisation of proceedings
– and improves the communication between
judicial authorities.
E-justice
Enlargement of the portal's contents and gradually
developping new functions in the coming years
– allowing a citizen to make a cross-border small claim or
payment order online.
– Insolvency registers, business registers and landregisters
will be accesible via portal
– Courts would be able to deal with cross-border requests
online and communicate with the claimants and
defendants in a particular case as well as with courts in
other Member States
– by 2013 a tool allowing citizens to narrow their searches
for lawyers.
Committee of Civil Law – general
questions
 Following the civil law aspects of the Union's
external relations ensuring coherence in
Union legislation in the area of civil law, if
necessary by way of opinions by the Working
Party.
 Example: discussions concerning the Hague
Convention on Maintenance 2007
Successions
 The proposal aims to improve judicial
cooperation in the field of succession, which
at the moment has not been harmonised.
 After receiving Commission's proposal
– work started under the Swedish Presidency,
– continued under Spanish Presidency, now under
Belgian Presidency
– and will be further continued under the Hungarian
Presidency.
Successions
 The BE Presidency considers this proposal as an
important step towards a Europe for citizens.
 In order to ensure an effective deployment of the
regulation it is necessary to create a comprehensive
framework which provides legal certainty.
 At the end of our Presidency Belgium foresees to
submit a document which compiles the progress
made in the Council.
Rome III
 Meeting in the format “Friends of the
Presidency” group on July 12 and October 11
 Regulation aims to establish closer
cooperation in the area of the law applicable
to divorce and legal separation between
Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia, Spain,
France, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria,
Portugal, Romania, Malta and Slovenia
Rome III
 It is now up to Parliament to give its opinion
under the consultation procedure, based on
the report to be prepared jointly LIBE, FEMM
and JURI,
 The intention is adoption of this Regulation
by the Council of Ministers in December this
year. "
Contract Law
 Meeting in the format “Friends of the
Presidency” group on 29 November
 Topic: Green Paper from the Commission on
European contract law (COM(2010)348 final).
 Aim: Provide a platform for the Member
States to ask questions to the Commission in
order to get clarifications on the Green Paper.
Seminars related to civil justice under the
Belgian Presidency
 Seminar “International family mediation in
international child abduction” Brussels
 Seminar “After the Crisis: Banking and financial law,
Business rescue”, Brussels
 Seminar “Quality in Justice” a forum to discuss
initiatives that can be taken to improve the quality of
justice, Brussels
Thank you for your
attention
Ümit Oral
[email protected]