Values of the European Union – Responsibility of Every National Judge

Time and venue of the Conference

May 23, 2024, Riga, House of the Black Heads, Rātslaukums 7 

A video record of the Conference is available in Latvian and English on the Youtube channel of the Supreme Court of Latvia

Organizer

Supreme Court of Latvia

Conference concept and participants

20 years ago, Latvia, along with nine more countries – Estonia, Lithuania, Czechia, Cyprus, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary – joined Europe’s family of democratic countries – the European Union. This also implied inclusion in the single European legal space and responsibility for its further maintenance and development. Within these 20 years, the Supreme Courts of the Member States have become beacons of their national legal systems in the vastness of European legal space.

In the process of development of European Union law, the dialogue of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Supreme Courts of the Member States has been essential, as it has allowed Europe to be united in a single community of values, rights and economics. Moreover, during these years, we have shared various challenges, the successful overcoming of which required a broader perspective – European Union law – and awareness of our responsibility not only for the application of national law, but also of European Union law.

The conference is devoted to the 20th anniversary of Latvia’s accession to the European Union. The invited participants are senators of the Supreme Court of Latvia, presidents and vice-presidents of all Latvian courts, members of the Latvian Judicial Council and other representatives of the judiciary, as well as Supreme Court judges of the countries that joined the European Union along with Latvia, judges of these countries who work or had worked in the Court of Justice of the European Union, and Latvian representatives in the CJEU.

As a symbolic support, representatives of the Supreme Courts of the candidate countries for joining the EU (Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia) are also invited to participate in the conference.

The conference is dedicated to a judge, namely to a national judge, who is also a European judge, and whose responsibility is skilful implementation of European Union law and, therefore, the very idea of a united Europe. The conference shall analyze how membership in the European Union has altered the work of a judge in a national legal system, and whether every national judge has become a European judge who thus applies European Union law and protects the fundamental values of the European Union.

Conference participants (data for 20.05.2024)

Conference programme

Conference programme (pdf)

9:30 – 10:00 Opening addresses

• Aigars STRUPIŠS, President of the Supreme Court of Latvia

• Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union (video address)

• Stanislav KRAVCHENKO, President of the Supreme Court of Ukraine

10:00 – 11:30 European Union values and a judge

• Moderated by Inese LĪBIŅA-EGNERE, Minister of Justice of Latvia

Challenges faced by national courts, when a country joins the European Union
Ingrīda LABUCKA, former Minister of Justice of Latvia, first Latvian judge at the General Court

The European judge as an enforcer of EU common values
Ineta ZIEMELE, Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union

The principle of judicial independence within the functioning of European Union law
Aigars STRUPIŠS, President of the Supreme Court of Latvia

Transformations of the understanding of gender equality in the European Union in the last 20 years
Sanita OSIPOVA, Senator of the Supreme Court of Latvia

11:30 – 11:45 Coffee break

11:45 – 13:00 The European Union and national identity

• Moderated by Jānis PLEPS, Senator of the Supreme Court of Latvia

The search of equilibrium between the unity and national identity in the case-law of the CJEU
Irmantas JARUKAITIS, Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union

New challenges for the judiciary after EU accession and their solutions in time
Martin HOLIČ, Judge of the Supreme Court of Slovakia

Court’s role in preserving national identity
Sandra KAIJA, Senator of the Supreme Court of Latvia

Dialogue and Adaptation – Dilemma or Panacea?
Aaron BUGEJA, Judge of the Superior Courts of Malta

13:00 – 14:15 Lunch

14:15 – 15:30 European Union law in daily work of a judge

• Moderated by Kristīne LĪCE, Adviser to the President of Latvia, former Latvia’s Representative to International Human Rights Organisations

Just Rule-Takers and Troublemakers? Searching for (a) Positive CEE Legal Contribution(s) to EU Law
Michal BOBEK, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic, former Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union

IQ Justice – Improving the Quality of Justice
Andrej KMECL, Judge of the Supreme Court of Slovenia

Questions for a preliminary reference submitted to the Court of Justice of the European Union – judge’s ignorance or duty?
Anita KOVAĻEVSKA, Senator of the Supreme Court of Latvia

Preliminary rulings – recent case law of the Supreme Court of Estonia
Janar JÄÄTMA, Judge of the Tallinn Circuit Court, Adviser at the Supreme Court of Estonia

15:30 – 16:00 Summary and conclusion

• Ineta ZIEMELE, Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union

• Aigars STRUPIŠS, President of the Supreme Court of Latvia