SELECT Project is precursor of a European best practice

On March 8, 2021, the Council of the European Union published the “Conclusions on strengthening the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Union” (6795/21 JAI 233 FREMP 38).

In par. 23, the Council recognizes as a priority the identification of “further avenues to improve the proficiency of the judiciary and other justice practitioners on the Charter, drawing on dedicated training material, including e-learning tools”.

The European Institution also underlines the importance of interventions my Member States aimed at encouraging “networks of judges, lay and honorary judges and other justice practitioners to put a renewed emphasis on the application of the Charter at national level”.

Among the strategies to achieve this goal, the Council suggests cooperation “on training” and on “sharing practices”.

SELECT Project, developed starting from 2019, funded in July 2020 and launched in December 2020, anticipates this path:

• SELECT arises from the intuition of the importance of cooperation among Honorary and Lay Judges belonging to different European countries. The project itself, in fact, enhances the network among Honorary and Lay Judges from five EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy) represented by the partners Union Européenne des Magistrats statuant en matière Commerciale and Associazione Nazionale Giudici di Pace. Furthermore, the project boasts the support of the largest European network of Lay and Honorary Judges, ENALJ (European Network of Associations of Lay Judges).

• SELECT aims at contributing to the effective and consistent application of European Law through the provision of training on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights dedicated to European Honorary and Lay Judges. This objective is pursued through the organization of transnational frontal training courses, supported by didactic material developed ad hoc by the project partners Università degli Studi della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” and CONCILIUM Schlichtung und Beratung GmbH, and by e-learning tools implemented by the partner FB European Consulting.

• SELECT aims at promoting the transnational exchange of good practices and cooperation among European Lay and Honorary Judges, through the organization of workshops aimed at know-how exchange.

• SELECT aims to endorse systematic training on European Law, providing the elaboration of a methodological Booklet meant at disseminating the strategy for achieving the aforementioned objectives, aspiring to establish a best practice in relation to the application of the Charter at national and European level.

The partnership is honored to be among the pioneers of the strategic path outlined by the Council of the European Union and intends to provide its contribution with the utmost commitment.