In order to promote the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) standards while supporting local authorities in harmonising judicial practices, the 2nd regional forum organised by the EU and Council of Europe action DREX, took place in Korca. The forum gathered 45 judges and legal advisers from the Albanian High Court, Korca, Pogradec, and Elbasan courts who discussed and exchanged information concerning related judicial practices in the lens of the European Court of Human Rights standards. The event was chaired by the Chairperson of the High Judicial Council Naureda Llagami, who spoke about the harmonisation as an effective way to reduce backlog in the Albanian courts, and as an orientation tool for all legal practitioners and for the parties in the litigation process.
The participants discussed the latest developments in the case-law of the Albanian High Court and shared their experience of dealing with similar issues within their respective jurisdictions. The meeting was a unique opportunity to exchange views touching upon important topics where the High Court has issued a decision that establish, consolidate or change a practice, from 2018 onwards. In particular, the debate of property related judgements remain at the centre of the discussion.
Judges from the different court regions recognised the importance of exchanging and learning about cases that are relevant to their jurisdiction on a regular basis in order to make sure that they are in line with the High Court's jurisprudence and thus improve the quality and effectiveness of their work. These exchanges of views and experiences will serve as a key step in accelerating the implementation of case-law by the domestic courts, as a good opportunity to foster closer cooperation and synergy between the various courts throughout the country.
The activity is organised in the framework of the actions “Supporting enforcement of the judicial decisions and facilitating the execution of ECtHR judgements” under “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II”, a co-operation initiative co-funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.
