1 March, 2023
On Wednesday, March 1, Aigars Strupišs, the President of the Supreme Court and the Chair of the Judicial Council, participated in the meeting organized by the State President Egils Levits attended by the heads of the institutions of the judicial system, where current developments of the judicial system were discussed.
A. Strupišs informed the State President and those present about the Judicial Council’s priorities for this year, including work on strengthening the status of the Judicial Council and the separation of the judiciary from the executive power, which was already envisaged in 2002 in the pre-accession negotiations of Latvia and the European Union. The independence of the judiciary from the executive branch is in the interest of the entire society, however the appropriate mechanisms for ensuring the efficiency and quality of the judicial system should be strengthened. “It is necessary to ensure a judicial system that is efficient, high-quality, sustainable and free from political influence with built-in security mechanisms for the protection of public interests,” said A. Strupišs.
Moreover, A. Strupišs drew attention to the fact that a respectful dialogue has been established with the Minister of Justice, as well as with the heads of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Saeima (parliament) and its subcommittee. Thus, there are currently no political obstacles in the implementation of the said task, and the Judicial Council will cooperate with the Ministry of Justice, as well as will hold a discussion on the status of the Judicial Council, attracting experts in constitutional law.
While discussing the situation of legal education and the poor results of the national unified legal professional qualification examination, A. Strupišs expressed the opinion that it is a challenge for the judiciary to select not only highly qualified judges, but even judge assistants and legal research counsels. "If nothing is done now, five years from now we can find ourselves in a deep pit. And if it is not possible to ensure the work of the law enforcement system, it could even turn out to be a problem of national security," emphasized A. Strupišs.
The meeting organized by the State President was attended by Aigars Strupišs, the President of the Supreme Court and the Chair of the Judicial Council, Aldis Laviņš, the President of the Constitutional Court, Inese Lībiņa-Egnere, the Minister of Justice, Andrejs Judins, the Chair of the Saeima Legal Affairs Committee, and Inese Kalniņa, the Chair of the Subcommittee on Constitution and Judicial Policy of the Saeima Legal Affairs Committee.