Raymond Briscoe (Ireland), President of the CCPE since 1 January 2026

It is a great honour for me to act as your President this year. I am looking forward to the challenge of building upon the work of my predecessors, in particular Mr. Antonio Vercher Noguera. While the Council of Europe is of course a separate entity to the European Union, there is the potential this year for added synergy, as first Cyprus followed by Ireland will hold the Presidency of the European Union for 2026. I am equally looking forward to working with the Vice President, Ms. Despina Kyprianou (Cyprus), the Secretariat together with all members of the Bureau, the Working Group and the CCPE.    

At a time of increasing global uncertainty and unilateralism, the Council of Europe’s ability to act on a multilateral basis to advocate as the ‘conscience of Europe’ is by extension correspondingly important. As a key part of the Council of Europe, the CCPE plays an integral role in seeking to protect and promote human rights, democracy, and the Rule of Law. As Prosecutors, we fulfil an essential role promoting these principles within our different Criminal Justice Systems. This year’s draft Opinion No. 21 (2026) on the topic of ‘enabling an effective and independent prosecution service by providing efficient support and safeguards for prosecutors’ is, in my opinion, extremely relevant. Supporting prosecutors through specialised training, their safety, security, wellbeing and through other measures such as ensuring adequate renumeration, will all be examined in depth in the context of facilitating the effectiveness and independence of the work that we undertake.   

Our work this year should also serve to strengthen the principles of the Rome Charter, adopted by the CCPE in 2014. Sufficient supports can act as enablers for Prosecutors to directly and indirectly fulfil their duties to act on behalf of society in a fair, impartial and objective manner. As a former President of the CCPE stated in 2017, we should also always be aware that formal prosecutorial rules and procedures alone are not enough, they need to be implemented in practice.

Thank you.

Raymond Briscoe, President, Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE)