- EJTN’s 2012 General Assembly held in Denmark – with the participation of prestigious speakers and guests.
- Members and other stakeholders affirm their trust and confidence in EJTN and its programmes –EJTN’s training activities attendance increased by 67% in 2011.
EJTN’s 2012 General Assembly, held May 30 and 31, gathered over 80 delegates in Copenhagen to review the achievements of EJTN over the past year and to approve a plan of proposed undertakings for 2013.
The 2012 General Assembly opened with a welcome from the President of the General Assembly, Mr Henrik Rothe, President of the Maritime and Commercial Court, Denmark. He warmly welcomed all the assembled delegates.
Prestigious speakers
Ms Charlotte Münter, Director General of the Danish Court Administration, addressed participants saying that EJTN had come a long way since its early years. Mr Luis Pereira, EJTN Secretary General, then gave opening remarks and thanked the Danish Court Administration for all of their efforts in organising the General Assembly.
Mrs Lotte Knudsen, Director, Directorate General Justice of the European Commission addressed the gathered delegates. She highlighted the fact that the Lisbon Treaty has placed increased importance on judicial training and that training is a cornerstone of judicial cooperation in Europe.
She further underlined that EJTN and its Members are central partners of the European Commission, congratulated EJTN for delivering training activities on EU law and encouraged EJTN to continue with these efforts. |
General Assembly 2012 delegates |
Among the other prestigious speakers and guests of the day, Mr Morten Bødskov, Minister of Justice of Denmark, highlighted the importance of EU law, training and the need to create a common European judicial culture.
A special address came from Mr. Torben Goldin, President of the Danish District Court of Frederiksberg. He recounted his positive experience of EJTN’s Exchange Programme, and stressed the importance of such exchanges in strengthening mutual confidence between European judges and prosecutors.
With the keynote speeches held, the General Assembly turned to the business at hand. A request of the change of Membership from the Training Centre of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania to the National Courts Administration of the Republic of Lithuania was approved. And, a new application for Membership of the Italian School for the Judiciary was unanimously approved.
The past year’s achievements
Luis Pereira then presented his Secretary General’s Annual Report, highlighting several important issues. He stated that EJTN had continued to proceed according to its Strategic Plan and that regular contacts had been fostered with key stakeholders such as the Vice-President of the EU COM Mrs Reding, EU COM DG Justice, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament.
Among other issues, he explained how the Steering Committee had begun reflexion on the creation of a new Strategic Plan for EJTN and what new training activities had been launched, including EJTN’s new eLearning courses. Very impressively, he remarked, the number of participants in EJTN’s training activities had increased by 67% in 2011, and the number of training days offered had increased by some 34%.
Regarding financials, Luis Pereira was delighted to report that timely pre-financing arrangements for projects and programmes had been achieved, all Membership fees had been paid, all 2011 accounts had been closed and submitted for approval, the contingency fund had been built up as planned and that EJTN had exercised meticulous budget execution throughout the year.
The General Assembly unanimously approved the 2011 accounts and the audit report, as well as the state of the current financial situation in 2012. Later, the General Assembly unanimously approved the 2013 Operational budget and EJTN’s Financial Corporate Financial Policy and Valuation Rules.
After the Secretary General’s Annual Report, reports from EJTN’s Working Groups and Sub-Working Groups delivered a comprehensive overview of the past year’s activities and achievements.
A look forward to 2013
With a view to the future, EJTN presented its plan of proposed endeavours for the next year. The General Assembly unanimously approved the following activities to be undertaken in 2013:
- The very successful Exchange Programme would continue, and a new model for the initial training visits would be considered.
- Under the Catalogue+ Programme, 17 activities with over 850 attendances would be proposed.
- The acclaimed THEMIS competition would expand and hold 4 semi-final sets.
- The Training the Trainers Forum would continue.
- The Criminal Projects would be continued and prolonged.
- The popular Linguistics Project would be continued and would focus on European civil law.
- A regional ERASMUS-type pilot project would be advanced by a group of countries.
- The Independent Seminars, COPEN II and eLearning efforts would continue.
- Functional improvements to the Catalogue’s infrastructure would be considered.
EJTN is grateful for the continued trust and confidence of its stakeholders and the European Commission and will keep striving to deliver more for its stakeholders and Members alike.
Next year’s General Assembly will be held during the summer of 2013 in Dublin, Ireland.
Annual Report
The 2011 EJTN Annual Report was presented at the General Assembly.
General Assembly 2012, Copenhagen