The UIHJ was represented at this meeting by its former First Vice-President, Mathieu Chardon. The Working Group on the Evaluation of Judicial Systems (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL) of the Council of Europe’s European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) oversees since 2004 the management of the regular process for evaluating judicial systems of the Council of Europe’s member states. Its latest report concerns the 2024 evaluation cycle from 2022 data. It is available online (https://www.coe.int/en/web/cepej/special-file).
Christel Schurrer, Co-Secretary of the CEPEJ and Secretary of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL, reminded the participants that the CEPEJ Bureau appointed the new CEPEJ-GT-EVAL for its 2025/2026 mandate, and that the evaluation cycle is now annual rather than biennial, which constitutes a new challenge for the working group, particularly in 2026 when it will have to manage both the 2026 biennial evaluation cycle and the 2027 annual evaluation cycle.
At the start of the meeting, jaša Vrabec was unanimously re-elected Chair of the working group. The other members of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL are Joanne Battistino (Malta), Michel Daccache (France), Simone Kress (Germany), Seçkin Koçer (Türkiye) and Martina Vrdoljak (Croatia). Muriel Décot, Secretary of the CEPEJ, stated that the Council of Europe reaffirmed its full confidence in the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL, to whom she expressed her gratitude for their unwavering commitment and the excellence of their work since its inception.
Over two intensive days, the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL lengthy covered and discussed the three main items on its 51st meeting’s agenda:
- 2026 European Judicial Systems CEPEJ Evaluation Cycle (2025 data)
- 2027 cycle (brainstorming on the thematic report)
- Cooperation with the European Commission (Justice Scoreboard, Eurostat, Western Balkans Dashboard, and Eastern Partnership countries Dashboard)
