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e-News 2016/2 |
Editorial |
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Dear readers, During our general assembly in Prague on 31 May as new ACA president I already thanked my Czech colleague, Mr. Josef Baxa, for his work as our president during the past two years. In this brief editorial I would like to thank him again. I also would like to thank my French colleague Mr. Jean-Marc Sauvé for his inspiring contribution to the ACA Board, from which he now steps down at the end of his two-year term. His seat as ACA vice-president is taken by Mr Klaus Rennert, whom I welcome very much as new vice-president of the Board. The past few months have been turbulent in many aspects. Once again our continent faced the evil of random terrorist attacks. Much has already been said about the sad and brutal violence in Paris, Brussels, Nice, Munich and Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray and how these attacks can contribute to a climate of fear and intolerance. Our open and free societies are challenged in many ways. Upholding democracy and the rule of law on the one hand and optimizing our security efforts on the other hand seems to become the challenge of the years to come. Other developments, such as the outcome of the United Kingdom referendum on its membership of the European Union, will also dominate the public debate for a long time. As Councils of State and supreme administrative courts of the European Union we do not play a direct role in this debate, but we can be an example to governments and policy makers if we keep our focus on the importance of the rule of law and show other institutions the concrete benefits of joined deliberations and exchanges. The fragility of the rule of law has been clearly demonstrated recently in Turkey. The country and its institutions, the Council of State amongst them, are going through a turbulent and dangerous time with attempts to overturn democracy and the rule of law. We can only express our sympathy and support and wish our friends and colleagues at the Turkish Council of State the strength and determination to preserve its institutional integrity and independence. Piet Hein Donner |
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Seminar |
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On 21–22 April, the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (SACL) and the Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Jurisdictions of the European Union (ACA-Europe) hosted the seminar ‘The Protection of Legitimate Expectations in Administrative Law and EU Law’ where representatives of the supreme administrative jurisdictions from more than twenty European states as well as judges and lawyers of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania shared their insights, the approach and case law developed in their countries in the area of protection of legitimate expectations. |
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Colloquium |
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The 25th biennial colloquium of the Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Courts of the European Union (ACA-Europe) was held in Prague (Czech Republic) from 29 to 31 May 2016. The colloquium, organised by the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic (Nejvyšší správní soud) and ACA-Europe, intended to address the following topic: “Provide or Protect? Administrative courts between Scylla of freedom of information and Charybdis of protection of privacy”. |
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Jurifast |
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As a reminder, the Jurifast RSS feed can be obtained at the following address: http://www.aca-europe.eu/index.php/en/jurifast-en (possibility to subscribe to an RSS feed). |
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Forum |
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The Forum of ACA-Europe was designed as a tool for mutual exchange of valuable information between the member jurisdictions of the Association. As you probably are aware of, for years it did not work as expected – questions, but more importantly answers to these questions were rather sporadic. It is therefore my great pleasure to inform you about the success that the ACA-Europe has managed to achieve in this area of cooperation. After the ACA-Europe Information Networks seminar that took place in November 2014 in Brno, the platform started to slowly but surely to grow and function properly. In 19 months, the Forum received 26 new questions. Regarding the answers, in the past the inquirer rarely received more than one or two answers – in 2015 we reached the average of almost 6 answers per question and in May 2016 the average is almost 8 answers (maximum for now being 17 answers to a question). The fact that more than 20 institutions (as opposed to 11 in May 2015) are now actively participating in the exchange of information on the Forum also proves its usefulness. The nature of questions vary – they are often targeted on interpretation and implementation of directives, the case law or legislation relating to a certain matter, or even questions of procedural nature targeted to find out the individual practice in certain cases (for example whether it is possible to limit the maximum extension of the writings of the parties, or how do the courts deal with a situation when a judge passes away after an oral procedure, but before the judgement). I would like to express my hope that the Forum will continue to prosper and that all of us will be able to take advantage of this valuable tool that we developed together. Lucia Vargová If it has not yet been done, be sure to register at the following address: http://www.aca-europe.eu/forum/ |
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Tour of Europe |
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The tour of Europe presents an analysis, by means of 76 questions, systems of organization of administrative justice in the Member States of the European Union as well as Turkey. The updating of this information is still ongoing. The translation of those already presented on the site will be carried out later this year. ACA correspondents are invited to spontaneously submit possible changes in their country at the general Secretariat. Contact address: anne-catherine.vangeersdaele@aca-europe.eu |
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Library |
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The library of administrative law of the EU recently has been enlarged with two contributions submitted by the Council of State of France. The first is entitled 'ASYLUM, EXCLUSION CLAUSE AND EXTRADITION', from Emmanuelle Prada-Bordenave, State Councilor at the Litigation Division of the Council of State of France. The second is called ‘HUMAN DIGNITY IN THE CASE LAW OF THE FRENCH CONSEIL D’ETAT from Xavier Domino, Master of Petitions and Public Rapporteur at the Litigation Division of the Council of State of France. Both are available in French and English on the website of the Association. A third contribution will soon be available. Each institution may of course send articles related to administrative law and EU-law at the following address: eric.thibaut@aca-europe.eu. |
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Judge Exchanges |
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As every year, ACA-Europe can offer 12 judges the possibility to do an internship during 12 days in one of its member institutions. In 2016, the General Secretariat has received 26 requests to participate in this exchange of judges. These internships are ongoing. As for previous years, reports will be posted on the website of the association: http://www.aca-europe.eu/index.php/en/exchanges Contact address: anne-catherine.vangeersdaele@aca-europe.eu |
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Member News |
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Italy As of 1 January 2016, Giuseppe BARBAGALLO retired from the Italian Council of State. For many years, Mr Barbagallo has been a welcome guest at several ACA-Europe activities being the contact person for the Italian Council of State. His dedication and commitment has been very much appreciated. The Secretariat General wants to express its sincere gratitude for his loyal support and congratulates Mr Barbagallo on his retirement. Luxembourg By Grand-Ducal Decree of March 30, 2016, Mr Georges WIVENES was appointed President of Council of State where he has been a member since August 1, 2006. He assumed the position of Vice President since November 15, 2015 and now succeeds Madam Viviane Ecker at the top level. Norway Justice Toril Marie ØIE was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway in March 2016. She is the 20th Chief Justice in the 200 year history of the Supreme Court and the first women to hold this office. She succeeds the former Chief Justice, Tore Schei. Chief Justice Øie was born in Oslo in 1960. She graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo in 1986. From 1986 to 2004, she was employed at the Legislation Department of the Ministry of Justice and the Police – from 1990 as a Legal Adviser and from 2000 as a Deputy Director General and Head of the Unit for Criminal Law and Procedure. From 1988 until 1990, Toril Marie Øie took leave of absence from the Legislation Department to serve as a Deputy Judge and later an Acting District Court Judge and Acting Chief Judge at Strømmen District Court. In the years between 1994 and 2002, in addition to her post at the Legislative Department, she was also a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Public Law, University of Oslo giving lectures on criminal law, criminal procedure and civil procedure. She has been appointed Supreme Court Justice in August 2004. Chief Justice Øie has been a member of the local Norwegian board of the Nordic Conferences of Lawyers since 2008. She has previously been Subject Editor of Norsk lovkommentar (Norwegian Law Comments) from 2011 to 2015 and has held various public offices. She has written two textbooks on criminal law, is co-author of commentaries on the Dispute Act, is co-editor of the Supreme Court’s bicentenary publication and commemorative volume to Tore Schei, and has also written a number of articles, mainly on criminal law and procedure. Poland On February 17th 2016, the President of the Republic of Poland appointed prof. dr hab. Marek ZIRK – SADOWSKI for the six-year term of office of the President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland. The nomination was preceded by the resolution of the General Assembly of Judges of the Supreme Administrative Court of 30th November 2015 proposing Professor Marek Zirk-Sadowski for the office of the President of the Supreme Administrative Court. Professor Zirk-Sadowski LL.D. LL.D (habilitated) graduated law and philosophy at the University of Łódź. His academic career was closely associated with the University where he first started to work as an intern-assistant in the Department of Administrative Law (1973). In 1990 he became an Associate Professor and a Full Professor in 2000. He was the Deputy Rector of the University of Łódź in the years 1993–1999. For two terms (6 years) he was the Dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Łódź. At present, he heads the Chair of Theory and Philosophy of Law. He has authored many studies in legal science including eight books (four of them as a co-author), including among them: “Understanding Evaluations in Legal Language, Law and the Participating in Culture, Introduction to the Philosophy of Law”. He has lectured in most of the countries of Europe as well as in the USA and Japan. He is the Vice-President of the International Association for Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR) and in the years 2006–2007 held the title of the President of the Association. His interest is focused on the analytical theory of law, hermeneutic philosophy of law, philosophy of Community law and the theory of integration. He was a member of an inter-disciplinary team which prepared the annual report evaluating the level of adjustments of Poland to the membership of the European Union. He is Editor-in-Chief of „Archiwum Teorii i Filozofii Prawa”. Since 1994 he has been a judge of the Supreme Administrative Court. In June 2004, the President of the Republic of Poland appointed Professor Marek Zirk-Sadowski to the post of the Vice-President of the Supreme Administrative Court. In 1998 he was decorated with the Gold Cross of Merit, and in 2002 – he became a Knight of the Polonia Restituta Order. |
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ACA News |
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The General Secretariat expresses its sincere gratitude to all its members for their expressions of sympathy and kind words after the horrible attacks in Brussels in March. On May 31st 2016, the General Assembly officially installed the Vice-President of the Council of State of the Netherlands, Mr Piet Hein Donner, as the new president of ACA-Europe for the upcoming two years. At the same time, Mr Klaus Rennert, President of the Federal Administrative Court of Germany, has been appointed vice-president of the association. Budget 2015 & 2016 The subvention granted for 2015 by the Justice programme of the European Union was controlled by an external audit and the European Commission. All expenses have been validated. A subvention has been granted for the year 2016 by the Justice programme of the European Union in order to finance the activities of the Association. The 2016 budget is fixed at 450.000 euros, financed at 80% by the European Union, which equals 360.000 euros. |
In this issue |
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Agenda |
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Analysis |
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At the time of the ACA-Europe’s application for a three-year grant addressed to the European Commission, the Association was invited to propose to conduct an annual survey on the collection, analysis, exchange and dissemination of information, good practices and recommendations on various topics of EU law. For 2015, the Board opted for a survey on access to the supreme administrative courts and their decisions. The analysis can be consulted on the website of the Association. For 2016, the Board has opted for a survey on unification of administrative jurisprudence. On Tuesday, the 5th of July, a first meeting of the working group on this topic was held at the Council of State in Brussels. This working group was composed by Mrs. Mylène Bernabeu, Mr. Jacek Chlebny, Mr. Frank Clarke, Mr. Auke Kuipers, Ms. Viola van Dijk, Ms. Susanne Rublack, Mr. Geert Debersaques and Mr. Joris Casneuf. During this meeting, the object of the study was defined and the workload was divided. During the meeting scheduled on 10 October 2016, a questionnaire will be drafted that will be distributed among the members of the Association. |
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