The 49th Plenary of the European Judicial Network (EJN) took place on 23 - 24 November in Tallinn, Estonia, under the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The meeting gathered around 120 participants: local authorities from the Republic of Estonia, EJN Contact Points from the EU Member States, candidate, associated and third countries, as well as representatives from Eurojust, the European Commission, the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU and EJN partners.
During this one and a half day meeting, participants focused on the practical application of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and the European Investigation Order (EIO), as a follow up to the discussions at the 48th Plenary meeting of the EJN in Malta in June this year, and in light of some recent judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the application of the EAW.
The meeting was opened by Ms Lavly Perling, Prosecutor General of Estonia, Ms Kristel Niitam-Nyiri, Deputy Secretary General at the Ministry of Justice of Estonia and Mr Ola Löfgren, Secretary to the EJN. In the opening remarks, the EJN contact points and the EJN website were recognized as important “tools” for judicial cooperation in criminal matters. It was also underlined that the EJN Plenary meetings provide an opportunity to exchange contacts and to discuss practical and legal issues. The work of the EJN strengthens ties not only across the EU, but also within the Members States, thanks to national networks that are set up for the national coordination and sharing of knowledge and experience on judicial cooperation. Finally, the participants from third countries were welcomed, e.g. representatives of the EU South Partner Countries (EuroMed Justice programme).
The EJN Secretariat presented the execution of the EJN Work Programme for 2017 and ongoing projects, including the new version of the Judicial Library (soon online) and two new online tools: the reporting tool for EJN statistics and activities (launched on 1 January 2017) and a monitoring tool for the update of the EJN website (still to be launched). The report of the activities of the EJN for 2015/2016 and the contributions which are to be made by the EJN Contact Points were also briefly discussed. The amended Work Programmes for 2018 and 2019 were highlighted, since they now reflect all EJN activities and not only those with a budgetary impact, as it has been the case so far.
The workshops on the EAW and the EIO were introduced by Ms Patricia Hamel, Legal officer from DG Justice and Consumers, Commission, and by Ms Tuuli Eerolainen, State Prosecutor, EJN National Correspondent from Finland. Participants in the workshops reached conclusions on several issues that had been highlighted in the discussion papers: the EAW and detention conditions - CJEU Aranyosi and Caldararu cases, time limits for surrender - CJEU Tomas Vilkas case, and Practical implementation of the EIO. The conclusions will soon be published on the EJN website.
In the course of the meeting presentations were made also on different topics in the field of judicial cooperation, such as confiscation and freezing of assets, the use of digital signature in criminal proceedings in Estonia, UK and consequences of Brexit, as well as the European Public Prosecutor's Office. In addition, the EJN Contact Points provided information on the EJN Regional and National meetings that had taken place in the second half of 2017 with financial support from the EJN budget.
The Plenary meeting was concluded with an intervention by Mr Tsvetomir Yosifov, EJN National Correspondent and representative of the upcoming Bulgarian Presidency, who invited the participants to Sofia for the 50th Plenary Meeting of the EJN in June 2018.