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e-News 2017/2 |
Editorial |
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Dear readers, For most of us the summer holidays bring moments of relaxation in the company of family and friends. This relatively calm time of the year also enables us to look back at the first half of 2017 and more in particular for me personally on the first half of the Dutch presidency of ACA-Europe. Our meeting in The Hague over two months ago was according to some of you indeed a momentous one. The speech of EU commissioner Timmermans on better regulation inspired many of us. The entire text will be published on the ACA-Europe website soon, so for now just two important quotes: “… judicial authorities have a role to play in identifying systemic failure of legislation that can only be fixed by new legislation. (…) Although there is no mechanism in the EU equivalent to those existing in Member States, where judges from the supreme courts are in contact with the executive branch, I believe in using courts' expertise, both on feedback on how EU law is implemented, and as pre-drafting advice.(…)” “As you know, the particularity of European law is that we can in fact benefit from the feedback of all judges who apply it, which has to include national ones (…).” During our gathering I concluded that we should pursue the discussion on better regulation – and our possible contributions to it – and a number of ACA members were interested in continuing the discussions on this topic in the near future. In its meeting in Krakow in September the board will discuss further proposals. I am also looking forward to attending the expert meeting in Krakow mid-September on public order, national security and the rights of the third-country nationals in immigration and citizenship cases. We only have to open the newspaper to see how relevant this topic is to all of us in Europe today. In view of the current discussion in Poland on the independence of the judiciary I think the venue of our next meeting in Krakow is particularly opportune. It stresses that the Polish judiciary is an integral part of the wider European judicial culture. It is also an expression of support for the Polish courts in their struggle to preserve the constitutionally enshrined independence of the Polish judiciary. Having said that I hope you all had a truly inspiring summer! Piet Hein Donner |
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Seminar |
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On 15 May 2017 an ACA seminar was held in The Hague on the topic of Better Regulation. The seminar was organized by the Council of State of the Netherlands and was held in the Knight’s Hall (Ridderzaal) situated in the historical Inner Court (Binnenhof). The Knight’s Hall plays an important role in the Dutch political landscape. Every third Tuesday in September, the King addresses the plenary meeting of the Lower House of Parliament and the Senate and delivers the King’s Speech (troonrede) on behalf of the Dutch government reflecting on the past year’s developments and the government’s policy and legislative plans for the coming year. As the historic Inner Court also provides accommodation for the office of the prime minister and the General Affairs ministry, the ACA members were invited to a reception by Prime Minister Mark Rutte himself at the end of the day. |
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Jurifast |
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These decisions have been selected for you:
Remember, 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 presently has 212 members from 37 institutions. Since the last e-news, 4 new collective questions have been asked and 11 countries actively participated by providing 25 responses: Germany, Austria, Estonia, France, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland and Czech Republic. The following subjects have been recently discussed by the Council of State of France and the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland:
Access to the forum is reserved for the members of ACA-Europe, who can register for it 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 provides an analysis, in 76 points, on how the administrative justice system is organized in the different Member States of the European Union and Turkey. The updates on the Council of State of the Netherlands and the German Federal administrative Court are now available on our website. Subsequent changes to the update are also welcome and should be reported to the General Secretariat at the address below. Members who have not updated their situation since 2009 are invited to do so by contacting ACA-Europe at the following contact address: anne-catherine.vangeersdaele@aca-europe.eu |
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Judge Exchange |
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As every year, ACA-Europe has the opportunity to allow 12 judges from its member institutions to complete a 12-day work placement at any other institution among them. These traineeships are concluded with a report written in French or English and translated within the limits of the available budget. The 2017 procedure follows its course, the first exchanges have already taken place. Contact address: anne-catherine.vangeersdaele@aca-europe.eu |
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Members' News |
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On the eve of his retirement - Mr Yves Kreins’s interview |
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Mr Yves Kreins, who, in his capacity of Secretary-General, has been the driving force of ACA-Europe for 13 years, ends his term as First President of the Council of State of Belgium on 1st September 2017. Undoubtedly, a good opportunity to take a look back and see how far we have come. Since when have you been associated with ACA-Europe? The 26th Conference that the Council of State of Netherlands will organise in 2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of the collaboration between the Administrative supreme courts of the European Union. In fact, on the initiative of the Council of State of Italy, the first of the conferences took place, in Rome from 4 to 6 March 1968, bringing together the supreme administrative courts of the “Common market” of the time, i.e. the Councils of State of Italy, France and Benelux as well as the Federal Administrative Court of Germany. Thirty year later, in the wings of the 16th Conference that was held in Stockholm from 14 to 17 June 1998, the participants decided, on the proposal of the Council of State of Belgium, that, considering their increase in number, it would be useful to give these meetings a more formal structure, by creating an association that would not only allow to ensure its longevity, but also plan other activities, as well as avail of financial aid in the future from the European Commission. I have been working for the Association from this time, when I was part of a task force in charge of drafting the statutes of the Association. The “ACA-Europe” acronym didn’t exist then. It came about later during the Presidency of Luxembourg of the Association. It was created by Georges Ravarani, who was then the President of the Administrative court of Luxembourg and is now the Judge at the European Court of Human Rights. Which is your oldest memory in the context of international relations? My participation in the 11th Conference that was held in 1988 in Lisbon as a Belgian Rapporteur. I was a young auditor at the Council of State of Belgium and, it just so happened that it was then that I met a young French colleague called Martine de Boisdeffre who was the Associate Councillor then and is now the President of the Report Section at the Council of State of France. What do you think is the most important role of ACA-Europe? The European Union is essentially a common legal space. The treaties established the mechanism of the preliminary ruling, which is a vertical dialogue between the national judge and the international judge, to ensure the uniform application of the Community rules. However, it would lead to an irreversible overloading of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) if this was the only way for a national judge to know the exact interpretation of the Union’s texts. Thus, this institutional vertical dialogue needed to be complemented by more informal communication between the CJEU and the National courts, but more importantly by a horizontal dialogue, which is especially important, between the national judges, because it allows them to better understand the Community law through its application by foreign courts. This is where ACA-Europe comes in. Thanks to the involvement of its members, and especially the Courts who have managed its Presidency, our Association has successfully executed this mission, to the extent that the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights have decided to set up a Network that is, for the most part, inspired by the experience and instruments put in place by ACA- Europe. What according to you is the greatest asset of ACA-Europe? Jean Monet said: “We do not create coalitions between states, we unite men". Beyond the in-depth study of legal knowledge, our Association enables developing direct contacts between judges. Over the years, these contacts are often transformed into actual friendships. It is this friendship between our members that is the secret of ACA-Europe’s success since the very beginning. It is thanks to it that we have been able to draft the statutes: think about the goodwill shown by the British Lord of Justice representing the supreme court of the United Kingdom to understand what a Belgian non-profit international association is and accept that its jurisdiction is a part of it. It is thanks to it that we can always reach an agreement easily when it comes to the composition of our management bodies as well as the organised events and activities. The solidity of an association depends on the solidity of the relationships between its members. Mutual trust, which has become the underlying sentiment of many European declarations, inevitably calls for personal relationships based on understanding and respect between the judges of different European nationalities. This is the intangible, yet major, asset of ACA-Europe. Now for the question that everybody is dying to ask: you don’t exactly seem the type of man to spend all his time gardening. What are your plans now? I am leaving neither administrative justice nor the international scenario. I have just been appointed judge at the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This international court, which is associated with 59 International organisations (of approx. 55,000 government officials), has jurisdiction to hear cases between international government officials and their Organisation. It comprises 7 judges of different nationalities (including 3 from Europe). It is going to be an honour and a pleasure for me to meet two former active members of ACA-Europe there: Mr Giuseppe Barbagallo (Italy) and Mr Patrick Frydman (France) who are the President and Vice-President of the Tribunal respectively. |
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