The European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ) will hold a Conference to launch the report of the first thematic review conducted under the Council of Europe Plan of Action on strengthening judicial independence and impartiality (known as the Sofia Action Plan), with a focus on the career and training of judges, on 17 November 2026 during the 107th plenary meeting of the CDCJ, in Strasbourg and online.
The conference will bring together members of the CDCJ, judges and experts to discuss the review’s findings and their contribution to strengthening judicial independence and impartiality. This initiative contributes to the Council of Europe New Democratic Pact for Europe.
The programme will explore safeguards in judicial careers and governance, gender equality, and objective criteria for judicial selection and appointment in a first session. A second session will focus on judicial training and capacity building, artificial intelligence, as well as ethics and integrity.
The speakers at this conference will be, in the order of the programme:
- Signe Öhman, Chair of the CDCJ
- José Igreja Matos, President of the CCJE
- Daniele Cangemi, Head of the Human Rights and Justice Standards Department, Council of Europe
- Julie Devys, Judge, Administrative Court of Strasbourg
- Duro Sessa, Judge, Supreme Court of Croatia; CCJE member
- Ivana Jelić, Vice-President, European Court of Human Rights
- Fabio Giovagnoli, Member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission); Ad hoc Judge of the European Court of Human Rights; CCJE and CDCJ member
- Ana-Maria Telbis, Head of the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals Programme (HELP), Council of Europe
- John Sorabji, Associate Professor of Law, University College London
- Panagiota Vatikalou, Member of the Bureau of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO); Judge, Court of Appeal of Athens
- Lennart Houmann, Vice-Chair, European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ)
- Francesco Depasquale, President, European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)
- Margaret Satterthwaite, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
The conference will take place from 14:30 to 17:30 at the Palais de l’Europe, Room 11, in Strasbourg, with online participation available. It is aimed primarily at judges, members of judicial councils, justice-sector professionals, judicial trainers, policy makers, legal practitioners and others working to promote judicial independence and impartiality.
To follow this event, you should fill in this Microsoft form by 13 November.
For the programme, please consult this flyer.
Further information will also be available soon here.
