On 5-6 October 2023 a third international conference of the Project was organized by one of the Project partners – Metropolitan University of Prague at its premises.
The conferences concentrated on presenting the main results of the Project as well as sharing the country specific insights by the multi-national Project expert-team. During this highly relevant two day event, a number of relevant topics were discussed. Opened by the Director of the EEA and Norway Fund Mr. Gian Luca Bombarda, the first panel concentrated on fairness and transparency of judicial selection as safeguard of judicial independence, one of the cornerstones of the Rule of Law. Contributions were made by Prof. dr. Salvija Mulevičienė (Project Manager) on the findings of the Project expert-team on the importance of fair and impartial selection of judges, while the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice in the field was presented by the Justice of the General Court of the European Union Prof. Dr. Rimvydas Norkus and the reflection of the Norwegian experience by Prof. M. Adenas (University of Oslo).
The perspective of the Czech Republic on the administration of courts and appointment of judges was presented by the representative of the Czech Ministry of Justice.
The second session concerned promotion of judges to higher positions: objectivity, transparency, reflection on the independence of the system and country specific insights. The first book “Portrait of a Judge. Book I. Development of a Model of selection, evaluation and promotion of judges: principles, selected comparative aspects and model of competences“ was also presented. This session included the presentation of experience from Czech Republic by Prof. Dr. K. Klíma, Republic of Lithuania by Dr. Gabrielė Juodkaitė-Granskienė and Sigita Rudėnaitė (Supreme Court of Lithuania) and Albanian system presented by Enisa Shahini, Magistrate, Supreme Court of Albania and Prof. Dr. Arta Vorpsi.
The third session focused on the Project results, relevant to the Czech Republic, including a roundtable discussion with the members of the Czech judiciary, which allowed to reflect, evaluate and further develop the insights of the project experts. The conference concluded by addressing the issue of methodological support for experts conducting selection, evaluation and promotion of judges.
This third international conference of the Project “Portrait of the Judge” allowed for an additional opportunity to discuss the issues, which are at the core of judicial independence and relevant to all citizens within the context of the Project results. Even more, it gave an excellent opportunity to discuss the country-specific reflections with the judiciary of one of the countries beneficiaries – Czech Republic and address the issue of methodological assistance and tools developed for the professionals acting in the field of selection, evaluation and promotion of judges. .