Seminar marking the 15 Years of the Advisory Panel’s work, Strasbourg, 27 November 2025

Enhancing the selection process of European Court of Human Rights judges through multi-institutional dialogue

 

Concept note and programme

 

 Opening session
  • Luis López Guerra, Chair of the Advisory Panel; Emeritus Professor, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; former Section President of the European Court of Human Rights

Statement by Mr Luis López Guerra

  • Daniela Cujbă, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Moldova to the Council of Europe; President of the Ministers' Deputies

Statement by Ms Daniela Cujbă

  • Krista Oinonen, Chairperson of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH); Government Agent before the ECtHR, Director, Unit for Human Rights Courts and Conventions, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

Statement by Ms Krista Oinonen

  • Petra Bayr, Chairperson of the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Member of the National Council of Austria

Statement by Ms Petra Bayr

  • Mattias Guyomar, President of the European Court of Human Rights

Statement by Mr Mattias Guyomar (French only)

 Keynote Address
  • Jonathan Mance, Former Justice and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Intervention by Lord Jonathan Mance

 Thematic Session I - National Selection Procedures: Challenges and Good Practices

Moderator

  • Paul Lemmens, Member of the Advisory Panel; former Judge of the Council of State of Belgium; emeritus Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven; former Section President of the European Court of Human Rights

Statement by Mr Paul Lemmens

Main speaker

  • Madeleine Mathieu, President of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary; Honorary Advocate General of the Court of Cassation; judicial member of the Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature of France

Intervention by Ms Madeleine Mathieu

Respondents

  • Andrew Drzemczewski, Former Head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Department on Legal Affairs and Human Rights; Visiting Professor, School of Law, Middlesex University London

Intervention by Mr Andrew Drzemczewski

  • Saale Laos, Member of the Advisory Panel, Chair of the Criminal Chamber of the Estonian Supreme Court

Intervention by Ms Saale Laos

  • Serhii Kalchenko, Second Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; member of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada)

Intervention by Mr Serhii Kalchenko

 Thematic Session II - Interpretation and Application of Article 21(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights: Criteria in Practice

Moderator

  • Jörg Polakiewicz, Director of Legal Advice and Public International Law (DLAPIL), Council of Europe

Statement by Mr Jörg Polakiewicz

Main speaker

  • Paul Mahoney, Former Chair of the Advisory Panel; former Judge and Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights

Intervention by Mr Paul Mahoney

Respondents

  • Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen, Professor of Law, Sorbonne Law School, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Intervention by Ms Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen (French only)

  • Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou, Professor of Human Rights Law and Associate Dean of the School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool

Intervention by Mr Kanstantsin Dzehtsiarou

 Thematic Session III - Looking Ahead: Enhancing the Election Procedure and the Advisory Panel’s Evolving Role

Moderator

  • Despina Chatzivassiliou, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Statement by Ms Despina Chatzivassiliou

Main speaker

  • Christoph Grabenwarter, Former Chair of the Advisory Panel, President of the Constitutional Court of Austria; Full Professor of Public Law, Commercial Law and International Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business

Intervention by Mr Christoph Grabenwarter

Respondents

  • Petra Bayr, Chairperson of the Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe; Member of the National Council of Austria

Intervention by Ms Petra Bayr

  • Allan Rosas, President of the panel provided for by Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union; former Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union; Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, the Global School of Law at the Catolica University, Lisbon and the University of Bologna

Intervention by Mr Allan Rosas

  • Ivana Jelić, Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights

Intervention by Ms Ivana Jelić

 Closing session

Conclusions

  • Kieran Bradley, Former Director in the Legal Service of the European Parliament; former Judge of the Civil Service Tribunal of the European Union; Judge of the Administrative Tribunals of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and the European Stability Mechanism

Conclusions by Mr Kieran Bradley

Closing remarks

  • Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska, Member of the Advisory Panel, Vice-Chair of the Panel, judge of the Supreme Court of North Macedonia and former Section President of the European Court of Human Rights

Closing remarks by Ms Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska