31 May, 2024
On Thursday, May 30, a meeting of representatives of the Judicial Councils of Latvia and Lithuania took place, during which significant issues of the judicial systems of both countries were discussed, namely the selection procedures of judges, the court budget and the workload of judges.
The representatives of the Judicial Councils discussed the effectiveness of selection procedures of judges and the factors that can contribute to the attractiveness of the judicial position for the attraction of the most capable lawyers in the future. In both countries, the impact of negative demographic trends on the number of incoming cases and thus also on the required number of judges is topical.
When discussing the issue of the judicial budget, it was found that the basic principles of developing and approving the judicial budget in Latvia and Lithuania are different, considering the different powers of both Judicial Councils regarding budgeting.
Representatives of the Lithuanian Judicial Council gave an assessment of the solutions and implementation challenges of the case weighting system.
At the conclusion of the discussion, the representatives of the Judicial Councils of both countries acknowledged that the existing cooperation should also be developed in the future as a valuable format for evaluating current judicial reforms and exchanging ideas.
The representatives of the Lithuanian Judicial Council were welcomed by Aigars Strupišs, the chair of the Judicial Council and the Supreme Court of Latvia, Guntars Ploriņš, a member of the Judicial Council and the chair of the Valmiera Courthouse of the Administrative District Court, Sandra Lapiņa, the head of the Supreme Court Administration, Solvita Harbaceviča, the advisor to the President of the Supreme Court, and representatives of the Secretariat of the Judicial Council.