The 57th Plenary Meeting of the European Judicial Network, 18 – 19 October 2021, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Under the Slovenian Presidency, on 18-19 October 2021 took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia the 57th Plenary meeting of the European Judicial Network.

The meeting gathered almost 50 participants, a smaller number than a usual EJN Plenary. However, this reduced setting offered a long-awaited opportunity for the Contact Points of the EJN to get together in presence, while being compliant with the sanitary measures currently in place to contain the circulation of covid-19.

At the meeting were present the EJN Contact Points from the EU Member States, Switzerland and from the Western Balkans, as well as representatives of Eurojust, the European Commission, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and the IPA2019 project.

The participants discussed two topics and the key role of the EJN in improving these aspects for the cooperation:

1. Use of videoconferences in court, that due to Covid-19 entered into the court rooms in the everyday lives of judges and prosecutors. The interventions focused on possibilities, admissibility and obstacles of its use.
2. Judicial cooperation with the Western Balkan region, where representatives of the Western Balkans illustrated their systems for judicial cooperation and shared best practices and obstacles of the cooperation between the EU and WB.

The participants were delighted with the meeting and highlighted the importance of the in-person gatherings for the functioning of the EJN.