Czech Minister of Justice, Mr. Jiří Pospíšil, presented on January 20th, the priorities of the Czech Presidency in the area of Justice in the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament (JURI). Issues such as e-Justice, common rules for cross-border implications in family law, or the need to strengthen legal certainty for EU citizens will be in the agenda during Czech Presidency.

As pointed out by Minister Jiří Pospíšil at the opening of the debate, the main objectives of the Czech Presidency within the Justice and Legal Affairs domain will be focused on reaching a more effective judicial proceedings and to achieve higher legal certainty for all EU citizens.

During the Czech Presidency, discussion should start on the proposal for a Regulation on successions and wills which would govern conflict of laws rules for settlement of successions with a cross-border element. Most Member States welcome the submission of this proposal and they indicated their intention to support it also during the Informal Council Meeting held in Prague.

Regarding the issues about e-Justice, as it was already pointed out at the Justice Forum organized by the Commission in May 2008, all Member States consider it as one of the most relevents in the agenda. “We are preparing concrete projects that will have, above all, a clear added value for the public. We will focus particularly on two specific topics – cross-border videoconferencing, which we would like to see used more widely in the European area, and completion of the European Justice Portal. It will be launched for the public by the end of this year,” highlighted Mr. Pospíšil. The portal will be available in all the EU languages and all citizens will be able to find concrete information on it. Thus it will not be used only by legal professionals but the general public as well.

Debate with the MEPs also covered the topics of a Common Framework of Reference for European Contractual Law, the Brussels I Regulation (in civil and commercial matters) and the Commission Regulation establishing a mechanism for negotiating and concluding bilateral agreements in the areas that are within the exclusive competence of the EC. “In the area of criminal law, I consider it important to find a consensus on the Ship-Source Pollution Directive,” said Minister Pospíšil.

The EU law-makers were also interested in the proposal concerning the European Private Company, the European Authentic Act and the education of judges in the EU countries. “I firmly believe that, in collaboration with your members, we will be able to find a compromise and complete the work on the projects that I have mentioned here. We are ready to do our best to achieve that,” said Mr. Pospíšil as he closed the session.