Empowering Domestic Judiciaries
12. October 2023. 12:30 - 13. October 2023. 16:40
Faculty of Social Sciences, ELTE (H–1117 Budapest, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A, Room 0.100/C)
2023. October 12. 12:30 - 2023. October 13. 16:40
Faculty of Social Sciences, ELTE (H–1117 Budapest, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/A, Room 0.100/C)
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The conference aims to discuss the role of European actors in promoting judicial independence across Europe. The conference focuses on formal and informal instruments used at the European level to help domestic judiciaries resist political pressure and autocratic tendencies undermining the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. There has long been a lively debate about the use of European and international law in protecting the rule of law at the national level, and these debates regularly revolve around the developments in the relevant jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Besides these formal practices, the organizers of the conference are particularly interested in the role of informal or soft instruments (such as the work of judicial networks, transnational associations, advisory bodies or academies) in empowering and mobilising domestic judiciaries to stand for their independence. What have these actors done so far? How do they help European courts (CJEU and ECtHR) to address the challenges to judicial independence adequately? And what more can they do to help judiciaries under attack by their governments? Furthermore, we also seek to reveal how transnational and national actors can work together to promote the independence of judges. The conference's main goal is to provide tools for domestic judiciaries to stand for their independence effectively and combat the full-blown politicisation of their profession.
The conference concentrates on judiciaries in Southern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. Courts from these regions have been facing increasing challenges regarding their independence, and the organisation of these judiciaries show some common patterns which suggest that they can learn from each other. We seek to deliberate on both formal and informal practices available for promoting the resistance of domestic judiciaries and to evaluate their effectiveness in fighting for judicial independence at the national level. As we focus on judiciaries in Southern Europe and the CEE region, we are also interested in how an essentially apolitical, career judiciary can tackle the problem of politicisation.
Open the flyer of the event here.
Draft Programme
Day 1 (October 12) – Thursday
12:30 – 13:00 Welcome addresses
Gemma Andreone (CNR-ISGI)
Balázs Majtényi (ELTE)
13:00 – 14:00 Abusive Constitutionalism against Judicial Independence
Participants
- Yaniv Roznai (Rubinstein Center for Constitutional Challenges, Reichman University)
- Julian Scholtes (University of Glasgow)
Moderator: Gábor Halmai (ELTE, EUI)
14:00 – 14:15 Coffee Break
14:15 – 14:45 Dimitry V. Kochenov (CEU DI): Dialogical Rule of Law in the Hands of the Court of Justice
Q&A
15:00 – 15:30 Madalina Moraru (EUI): The Role of European Judicial Interactions on the Protection of Judicial Independence and Impartiality
Q&A
Chair: Lilla Farkas (ELTE)
15:45 – 16:00 Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:30 Mobilizing Judges On and Off the Bench (Roundtable discussion)
Participants:
- Tamás Matusik, judge and president of the National Judicial Council (Hungary)
- Luca Perilli, judge, Court of Trento (Italy)
- Duro Sessa, President of the InternationalAssociation of Judges
- Dorota Zabłudowska, judge, Member of the Board of IUSTITIA (Poland)
Moderator: Ágnes Kovács (ELTE)
19:00 – 20:00: Book Launch (co-organized by ELTE and CEU DI): The Abuse of Constitutional Identity in the European Union (published by Oxford University Press)
with author Julian Scholtes (University of Glasgow)
Discussants:
- Dimitry V. Kochenov (CEU DI)
- Nóra Chronowski (HUN-REN CSS)
- Barbara Grabowska-Moroz (CEU DI)
Moderator: Gábor Halmai (ELTE, EUI)
20:00 Reception at CEU DI
Day 2 (October 13) – Friday
10:00 – 10:30 András Sajó (CEU PU, CEU DI): Militant Rule of Law?
Q&A
10:45 – 11:15 Katarina Sipulova (Masaryk University): Building a Resilient Judiciary
Q&A
Chair: Orsolya Salát (ELTE)
11:30 – 11:45 Coffee Break
Panel 1: Resilience and Resistance against Dismantling Judicial Independence
11:45 – 12:00 Zoltán Gábor Szűcs (ELTE): Tempered Liberalism versus Illiberal Ruthlessness: The Potential Resources of Judicial Resistance in Illiberal Regimes
12:00 – 12:15 Barbara Grabowska-Moroz (CEU DI): Judicial Associations and Rule of Law Crisis in Poland, Hungary and Romania – Strategies and Challenges of Transnational Cooperation and Supranational Litigation
12:15 – 12:30 Márton Gerő (ELTE): Civil Society’s Responses to the Attacks on the Justice System: The Polish, Hungarian and Israeli Cases
Discussion
12:50 – 13:50 Lunch Break
Panel 2: European Judicial Cooperation
13:50 – 14:05 Agnieszka Frąckowiak-Adamska (University of Wroclaw): The Status of National Judges Appointed in Violation of the EU Standards of Judicial Independence
14:05 – 14:20 Andrzej Schultz (EUI): Vertical Judicial Dialogue as a Ping-Pong Game: the Role of the CJEU in Addressing Challenges to Judicial Independence
14:20 – 14:35 Flóra Fazekas (University of Debrecen): The Preliminary Ruling Procedure as a Tool for Protecting Judicial Independence
Chair: Gemma Andreone (CNR-ISGI)
Discussion
14:55 – 15:15 Coffee Break
Panel 3: Domestic Judiciaries in Peril
15:15 – 15:30 Dragos Calin (judge, Bucharest Court of Appeals): À la recherche du temps perdu. The European Commission’s Lack of Serious Involvement in Defending the Rule of Law in Romania
15:30 – 15:45 Ildiko Bartha (University of Debrecen) – Matyas Bencze (Széchenyi István University, HUN-REN CSS): The Gradual Erosion of Judicial Independence in Hungary
15:45 – 16:00 Ana Neves (Lisbon University): Portugal's Judiciary Independence Flaws and Potential Reforms
Chair: Beáta Huszka (ELTE)
Discussion
16:20 Closing Remarks
Supported by the University Excellence Fund of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary (ELTE).