The President

Dr. Virgilijus VALANCIUS, Vice-president of the International Association of Judges,
President of the Supreme Administrative Court, Žygimantu 2, LT-01101 Vilnius, Lithuania
phone: +370 5 2 68 58 77, fax: +370 5 2 68 58 75, e-mail: vvalancius@lvat.lt

Presentation on the EAJ activities at the 8th plenary meeting of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)
Strasbourg, 6-8 December 2006

The European Association of Judges - EAJ - is a European judges‘organisation under the roof of the International Association of Judges - IAJ. Within the IAJ it is the biggest regional group.

The IAJ was founded in 1953 as a professional non-political international organization, grouping national associations of judges admitted to the Association by decision of it‘s Central Council. The main aim of the IAJ is to safeguard the independence of the judiciary, as an essential requirement of the judicial function and guarantee of human rights and freedoms.

Due to the existence of the specific interests and problems, faced by the judiciary of Europe, in 1991 the European Group of the IAJ has been structured, organizing its own annual meetings since 1992. According to the Statutes, the object of the EAJ is to further the objects of the International Association of Judges, where this is best done in a European context.

The European Association of Judges seeks to promote closer European cooperation in all areas pertaining to the judiciaries of the member states and international and supranational judiciaries, not exceeding the European level. Therefore the EAJ specifically aims to:
a) strengthen and support the rule of law as well as judicial independence and impartiality within the European scope and in all member states;
b) safeguard the interests of the judiciary, as an essential requirement of the judicial function and guarantee of human rights and freedoms;
c) safeguard the constitutional and moral standing of the judiciary;
d) increase and perfect the knowledge and understanding of judges;
e) study together judicial problems whether of European, regional or national interests, with particular regard to European laws and their application in practice;
f) improve the knowledge of European law and the judicial co-operation between the concerned judiciaries across the borders;
g) defend and represent the interests of European judges and magistrates as well as other members of the judiciary enjoying judicial status, where they are at stake in projects and decisions of international and transnational governmental organizations, not exceeding the European level.

The EAJ aims not alone to defend and represent the interests of European judges and magistrates as well as other members of the judiciary enjoying judicial status, but in the same way endeavours to strengthen and support the rule of law as well as judicial independence and impartiality on a European level and in all member states, as a privilege not of authorities of the judiciary but of the citizens coming to the courts in search of their rights.

Currently the EAJ unifies 38 member associations - most representative, free and voluntary formed judges‘ organisations of each country, strictly non-political, equal distant to all political parties and similar groups, and independent from all lobbies and other groups of influence. The EAJ is frequently asked by the international organisations for its opinion in matters concerning the judiciary and the judges. All members of the European Union are represented at the EAJ.

The EAJ members are actively involved in the activities of the Study Commissions of the IAJ, dealing respectively with judicial administration and status of the judiciary, civil law and procedure, criminal law and procedure, public and social law. On the basis of national reports, the members of the Commissions study problems of common interest to the justice process in every country of the world, on a comparative and transnational basis. The responsibility of judges, access to justice, measures to manage the increasing number of cases coming before the courts – those are just several examples of numerous topics already dealt with by the Study Commissions.
The last topics dealt with in 2006 were as follows: “How can the appointment and assessment (qualitative and quantitative) of judges be made consistent with the principle of judicial independence” (1st Study Commission), “Legal rules regarding patrimonial interests, succession and duties of couples living together but not being married“ (2nd Study Commission), „The way criminal systems deal with those who are mentally ill or mentally handicapped“ (3rd Study Commission) and “Do we need specialized labour courts?“ (4th Study Commission).
All the conclusions of the Study Commissions are publicized at the website of the IAJ (http://www.iaj-uim.org/ENG/frameset_ENG.html).

Being the organization, representing the interests of European judges and magistrates and strengthening the judicial independence and impartiality on a European level, the EAJ strongly supports the ideas of self-governance of the judiciary, freedom from undue external influence, appointment and promotion of judges based on ability, integrity and experience as well as adequate remuneration, as inseparable elements of the principle of judicial independence. In its activities the EAJ follows the standards of universally recognized international documents, related to the status of the judiciary, such as UN basic principles on the independence of the judiciary (1985), Recommendation No. R (94) 12 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to Member States on the independence, efficiency and role of judges and the relevant Opinions of the Consultative Council of the European Judges – CCJE, where at the EAJ also has the observer’s status.

During the year 2006 the EAJ did react to several national legislative developments, which compatibility with the international standards of judicial independence was disputed. At the annual meeting, which took place in Vilnius (Lithuania) on 20th May 2006, the EAJ unanimously adopted the Resolution, expressing concerns about the practice in some jurisdictions of subjecting the remuneration of judges to a discretionary element in the form of a performance bonus, as this practice not only creates a temptation to give greater weight to quantity rather than to quality, but also conflicts with European standards and presents a real threat to the independence of judges. The Resolution was adopted as a reaction to the report of the special Working Group of the EAJ, composed to analyse the situation related to the introduction of a system of judicial salaries partly based on performance bonuses in some European states.

The other two Resolutions, adopted at the meeting in Vilnius, concerned the disciplinary actions against judges in respect of their decisions in particular cases and intentions to increase the influence of the politicians in the composition and work of the Conseil Superieur de la Magistrature (C.S.M.) in France.
The texts of all the mentioned Resolutions may be also found at the website of the IAJ (http://www.iaj-uim.org/ENG/frameset_ENG.html).

During the meeting at Siófok (Hungary) on 27 September 2 October 2006, the EAJ adopted the Resolution, expressing its grave concern at legislative developments in Romania aimed at introducing administrative control over court decisions which have already been subject to the appeal procedures and also making judges subject to disciplinary and pecuniary liability for their decisions.

As it was already mentioned, the EAJ groups national associations of judges. Traditionally one of the aims of national judicial associations is protecting the rights of their members. Taking into account the experience that the members of the EAJ already have in this field, and accepting the international standards, that judges’ remuneration should be guaranteed by law and commensurate with the dignity of their profession and burden of responsibilities , the EAJ carries out the research on judicial salaries, based on the responses to the questionnaire from the member associations. The first research on judicial salaries (based on answers from 29 member associations) was made in 2001. The second research, intended to represent the position at the end of 2004, started in February 2005 and intermediate report was prepared in June 2006. This report is mentioned specifically as the study of judicial remuneration is also a part of the CEPEJ report on European Judicial Systems. Bearing in mind that the evaluation of judicial systems, carried out by the Working Group set by the CEPEJ, is periodical, we see there a good room for the cooperation.