Heads of the highest courts from twenty three countries meet once a year at The Conference of the Supreme Courts Presidents of the Central and Eastern Europe to discuss some of the numerous common challenges they are facing in efforts to improve judicial systems in their states, including the promotion of judicial independence, the strengthening of responsibility of judiciary, better court management, anticorruption struggles and the establishing of public support to the judges’ and courts’ work.
The Conference emerged from a Judicial Integrity Roundtable that was held in 2007 and 2010 at the CEELI Institute in Prague. The first formal Conference of the Supreme Courts Presidents of the Central and Eastern Europe was held in 2011 at the CEELI Institute in Prague, then in 2012 in organization of the Albanian Supreme Court, in 2013 of The Supreme Court of Montenegro, in 2014 of The Supreme Court of Georgia and in 2015 hosted by The Supreme Court of The Republic of Croatia.
The basic premise of the Conference is that it provides to those who leads the judiciaries in their countries, in the atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding, to discuss in confidence issues of common interest, share experiences and consider possible solutions. There are neither outside influences nor imposing opinions, the Supreme Court Presidents, those who carry a burden of the problems and responsibility for their resolution, are the only authorities at this Conference entitled to indicate certain situations, ask questions and give answers.
The Brijuni Conference gathered the Supreme Courts representatives from 17 countries - Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, The Russian Federation, The Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Ukraine. In the status of observes the Conference attended the delegation of the Supreme People’s Court of China.
During the course of the Conference three-day work presidents and representatives of the Supreme Courts of the Central and Eastern Europe discussed the following topics: Enhancing court efficiency, Alternative dispute resolution, Judicial independence at the institutional level and the individual judge level, Role of the courts president in court delay reduction, Use of court orders to carry out trials and secure evidence, Relationship with the media and Changes within the court systems of the Central and Eastern European countries.
On the last Conference day the Statement of Principles of the Independence of the Judiciary was signed. Starting from the definition of the judicial independence and goals, this document considers preconditions for their realization - from appointment of judges and their tenure, to judicial jurisdiction, judicial administration, resources for court operation, relationship with the legislative and executive branches and finally relationship with the media.