The Council of Europe and "30 Years EUR"

It gives me great pleasure as Director of Legal Affaires of the Council of Europe to congratulate the European Union of "Greffier de Justice" in its 30th anniversary. I am also very glad to see that the Union is publishing this anniversary brochure, which sums up once again the numerous activities which the Union has to its credit.

Relations between the European Union of "Greffier de Justice" and the Council of Europe, which have always been fruitful, go back many years. The Council of Europe, bound to maintain and perfect the rule of law, takes great interest in keeping close contacts with professional legal organisations in order to exchange experience and opinions. This of course applies equally to the "greffiers de justice" as we are all aware of the important role which they play in the justice system.

The member states of our organisation have also recognized this and consequently, in 1986 adopted Recommendation No. R(86) 12 of the Committee of Ministers to member states concerning measures to prevent and reduce the excessive workload in the courts. This recommendation, which defines some of the tasks of the greffiers, was moreover elaborated with the active participation of the Union.

Relations between the Union and the Council of Europe again intensified following the political changes in the states of central and Eastern Europe. These countries, which have now almost all become members of the Council of Europe, had to restructure their legal order and justice systems in order to respect the principles of the rule of law. The work has moreover not yet been completed.
The institution of "Greffier de Justice" appears to be particularly useful for dealing with the numerous and often new tasks of the courts in these countries.

Consequently several of these states have already integrated this profession into their legal system or intend to do so. On behalf of the Council of Europe, I should like to express our deep gratitude to the European Union of "Greffier de Justice" for its active commitment to the seminar, colloquies and other activities organised by the Council of Europe for the countries of central and eastern Europe. This is in my opinion a necessary and useful task indeed.

I wish the Union, for the future as well, great success and look forward to continuing our fruitful co-operation.

Guy de Vel
Director of Legal Affairs of the Council of Europe

PDF generieren   Druckversion