How can judicial independence and impartiality be strengthened? The Council of Europe will present an action plan on this subject at a conference to be attended by justice ministers and representatives of the judiciary in Sofia (Bulgaria) on 21 and 22 April.
With over a third of Council of Europe member states failing to guarantee sufficient standards of judicial independence and impartiality, as noted by the organisation’s Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland, in his 2015 report, the discussions will provide an opportunity to take stock of recent reforms, identify challenges and agree on measures to deal with them.
The conference will focus on three themes: the role of the judiciary in a democratic state and its relations with the executive and the judiciary; protecting the independence of individual judges and ensuring their impartiality; and securing public trust in the judicial process.
It will be opened by Boïko Borissov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Daniel Mitov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and Chair of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and Ekaterina Zaharieva, Minister of Justice of Bulgaria. (more...)