On Friday, July 2, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns met with the Director of the Academy of European Law (ERA) Jean-Philippe Rageade to discuss the establishment of a joint training centre for judges and prosecutors in Latvia.
Both officials agreed that the establishment of the Judicial Training Centre will promote a unified level of professional qualification of judges and prosecutors, as well as strengthen the training and research resources.
During the conversation, J. Bordāns emphasized that the aim of establishing the training centre is to promote a common understanding of judges and prosecutors about the application of legal norms in practice, as this is an important precondition for high-quality investigation and adjudication of cases. For this reason, a unified training institution is needed in order to be able to plan the necessary qualification improvement programmes in a coordinated manner.
In his turn, the Director of the Academy of European Law praised the involvement of the representatives of the Latvian legal professions in the study programmes at the European level. In addition, Latvia is already one of the largest and most active ERA cooperation partners. At the same time, Jean-Philippe Rageade expressed support for Latvia's readiness to strengthen the capacity and quality of the training process for members of the legal professions. “Latvia already has an excellent basis for establishing a Justice Training Centre,” emphasized the Director of the ERA.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
ERA is the leading training institution in Europe, providing training for legal professionals in all areas of European Union law. ERA is one of the most active cooperation partners of the Court Administration and the Latvian Judicial Training Centre. Since 2016, Latvia has been represented on the ERA Management Board, which provides an opportunity to participate in the development of ERA strategies and curricula, as well as in approving the budget.
In addition, in 2018, the Court Administration signed an agreement with ERA on the implementation of training on EU issues in Latvia, ensuring a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the Latvian justice system. Within four years, it is planned to train 2,350 judges, assistants to the judges, prosecutors and investigators working in the justice system on various legal policy issues.