As part of Malta's Presidency of the Committee of Ministers, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) invited its working groups and Bureau to Valletta for a conference entitled “Towards more effective and people-centred digitalised justice in Europe”. This was accompanied by discussions on future activities, in preparation for the CEPEJ action plan for 2026-2029 and its programme of activities, which will be adopted at its next plenary meeting on 4 and 5 December.
Opening the conference, Jonathan Attard, Malta’s Minister for Justice and Reform of the Construction Sector, underlined the importance of the rule of law as the cornerstone of democratic governance and social cohesion: “Our justice reforms - whether digital, procedural, or institutional - are all rooted in the principle that the rule of law must be preserved, strengthened, and made accessible to all.”
The CEPEJ’s current Action Plan emphasises the need to support the transition of national judicial systems from paper-based to digital justice in accordance with fundamental principles.
Respect for the rule of law and user confidence should be among the CEPEJ’s priorities for the coming years. Recent public criticism of court decisions, the uncontrolled use of artificial intelligence tools by legal professionals, difficulties in accessing justice for certain categories of the population, beyond even the risks of the digital divide, and the lack of confidence of certain users in their justice system, demand that the CEPEJ take these challenges into account while continuing its general mission to ensure high-quality and more effective justice.
The discussions on the challenges facing the justice system and the future work of the CEPEJ continued during an exchange of views with the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Mattias Guyomar. Among the topics addressed were the possibilities for greater co-operation between the Court and the CEPEJ, in particular the possible use of national judicial statistics in the preparation of the Court’s decisions.
