The CEPEJ, European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice of the Council of Europe, organised the 18th plenary meeting of its Network of Pilot courts in Strasbourg, France, on 10 April 2025. Our colleague Mr. Francesco Depasquale, Judge from Malta, President of the CEPEJ, opened the meeting, together with Mr Gianluca Esposito, Director General “Human Rights and Rule of Law” of the Council of Europe.
This CEPEJ Network of Pilot Courts, which was set up 18 years ago and meets once a year, provides a better understanding of the day-to-day functioning of the courts and promotes the exchange of good practices of the judicial systems of the Member States of the Council of Europe. The Pilot Courts may be courts of first instance or higher courts in civil, administrative or criminal matters.
This 18th plenary meeting included thematic workshops on major issues for judicial systems: work-life balance in the judiciary, effective court management, digital skills in the work environment and access to justice. These interactive sessions allowed participants to share their practices and contribute to the development of future CEPEJ tools.
Participants discussed as well the progress of the CEPEJ’s work, including priorities for 2025, trends identified during the evaluation of European judicial systems and the Resource Centre on Backlog Reduction Practices, a platform designed to help Member States deal with the backlog of pending cases.
30 Pilot Courts from 28 Countries took part in the meeting.
The EAJ was represented by the IAJ Vicepresident Sabine Matejka and IAJ Secretary-General Giacomo Oberto, in their respective qualities of member and President of the CEPEJ-GT-SATURN Working Group.
