Brussels, 02/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Academy of European Law (Europäische Rechtsakademie, ERA), held a conference last week near its headquarters in Trier (Germany) entitled “The Future of Legal Europe”. The participants particularly focussed on the challenges in creating a common European judicial culture. One particularly tricky question at the centre of the debates was: how can a national judge better fulfil his role as a judge of Community law? This often implies not only the application of European legislation, but also assessing the conformity with national law, said Ms Pauliine Koskelo, President of the Finnish Supreme Court. “Courts are often ill-prepared for this task”, she explained. She also proposed a remedy applied for some time in the Nordic countries of “judicial cooperation with recourse to case law across borders”. This exchange of experience should not be limited to case law from other member states, said Gilles Charbonnier, Secretary General of the EJTN (European Judicial Training Network). Beyond such exchange an in-depth understanding of the judicial systems and cultures of other member states is also needed, he said. These networks are not only useful at cross-border level. At national level, the Netherlands has had positive experiences with the work of its 40 “court coordinators”, who can be consulted on any issue of European law. The ERA has been supporting and participating in training and information networks on Community law for 15 years. (cd)