As the Council of Europe celebrates the 70th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Ministers of Justice of the 47 Member states of the organisation met yesterday in a video conference organised by the Greek Chair of the Committee of Ministers. The theme of this conference was: “Independence of Justice and the Rule of Law ” (https://bit.ly/3lj0Rud ).
Those who expressed themselves were: Marija Pejčinović Burić, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice, Rik Daems, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Robert Spano, President of the European Court of Human Rights, Ramin Gurbanov, President of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, and Nina Betetto, President of the Consultative Council of European Judges.
In a particularly alarming development, the President of the Venice Commission, Gianni Buquicchio, denounced “the deliberate attempts to control the judiciary by the executive in recent years in constitutional courts, supreme courts and then ordinary courts”. “Respect for the Rule of law is in decline and the negative impact of these serious shortcomings on all democratic systems in Council of Europe Member States is enormous”, he added.
In its conclusions, the Greek Presidency insists on cooperation between Member States and encourages them to refer to the “Council of Europe Action Plan on strengthening judicial independence and impartiality”, while taking advantage of the expertise of the Strasbourg-based organisation.
The contribution of digital justice and the allocation of additional resources as “policy actions that can improve the efficiency, professionalism and transparency of the justice sector” are also noted. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)