The CCJE President, Judge Leonie Reynolds (Ireland), took part, on 20 June 2024, in a special session marking the 25th anniversary of the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) and aiming to take stock of its achievements and to examine the challenges ahead in preventing and combatting corruption.
The CCJE President delivered one of the keynote addresses, congratulating GRECO and thanking it for developing, through the years, benchmark standards that help with the development of a culture of integrity among various professional groups, including judges, and reinforcing the rule of law in member states. She mentioned in particular GRECO’s 4th evaluation round which examined the prevention of corruption of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors, and emphasised that it is incumbent on all judges, like it is for other professional groups, to develop a culture and practice of strong ethics and public service within their own ranks.
The CCJE President also underlined the CCJE Opinion No. 21 (2018) on preventing corruption among judges which was prepared in close co-operation with GRECO, using its country specific findings and transforming them into general standards. She noted that GRECO has also been using CCJE standards in its reports and welcomed the continuing and fruitful co-operation between the CCJE and GRECO.
Link to the news on the event