The 40th plenary meeting of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) took place on 15-16 June 2023 in Strasbourg. Ms Jana Zezulova, President of the CCPE, and Mr Artashes Melikyan, Secretary of the CCPE, took part and contributed to this meeting on behalf of the CCPE. The President of the CCPE recalled in particular the 20th anniversary of the CEPEJ celebrated in 2022 in Malta and thanked the CEPEJ for its important documents and tools, including the periodic Evaluation Reports of judicial systems in Europe, the European Ethical Charter on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Judicial Systems, the CEPEJ Declaration on lessons learnt and challenges faced by the judiciary during and after the Covid-19 pandemic and others. The President of the CCPE emphasised the readiness to continue and reinforce the co-operation with the CEPEJ and provide an input as needed to the CEPEJ ongoing activities and development of its tools. Ms Zezulova also presented the most recent CCPE Opinion No. 17 (2022) on the role of prosecutors in the protection of the environment, as well as its current work on Opinion No. 18 (2023) on the Councils of Prosecutors as key bodies of prosecutorial self-governance.
Honorary Justice Francesco Depasquale, President of the CEPEJ, strongly welcomed such co-operation with the CCPE and the possibility to rely on its standards, as well as on the expertise and practical experience of its members who are all functioning prosecutors.
It was agreed to continue dialogue and reinforce the co-operation, including through mutual regular participation in the plenary meetings of the CCPE and the CEPEJ and other possible means.
