COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS BUILDING TRUST IN EU-WIDE JUSTICEA NEW DIMENSION TO EUROPEAN JUDICIAL TRAINING
Date: 2011-09-13
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, EU law, continuing vocational training, exchange of information, judge, lawyer, professional society, public prosecutor's department

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 13.9.2011 
COM(2011) 551 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

BUILDING TRUST IN EU-WIDE JUSTICE 
A NEW DIMENSION TO EUROPEAN JUDICIAL TRAINING 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

BUILDING TRUST IN EU-WIDE JUSTICE 
A NEW DIMENSION TO EUROPEAN JUDICIAL TRAINING 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  European  Union  is  built  on  the  rule  of  law  combining  Union  law  and  national  legal 
systems.  Both  are  applied  by  national  judges  who  work  within  different  legal  systems  and 
traditions.  The  creation  of  a  European  judicial  culture  that  fully  respects  subsidiarity  and 
judicial  independence  is  central  to  the  efficient  functioning  of  a  European  judicial  area. 
Judicial training is a crucial element of this process as it enhances mutual confidence between 
Member States, practitioners and citizens. 

The objective of the European Commission is to enable half of the legal practitioners in the 
European  Union  to  participate  in  European  judicial  training  activities  by  2020  through  the 
use of all available resources at local, national and European level, in line with the objectives 
of the Stockholm Programme1. 

Reaching this goal requires the commitment and full co-operation of stakeholders at all levels. 
It is essential that Member States, the judiciary, judicial schools and legal professions boost 
their  judicial  training  activities.  As  they  are  best  placed  to  make  sure  that  Union  law  is 
integrated in national training, action at European level will complement national activities. 

Union law at national level 

Union  law  permeates  a  wide  number  and  diverse  range  of  activities  at  national  level.  Its 
impact  on  the  daily  life  of  people  and  businesses  is  high.  It  creates  rights  and  obligations, 
which national courts must safeguard. The national judge has become the front-line judge of 
Union law. With successive changes to the European Union Treaties, the scope and impact of 
Union law has increased, access to justice was strengthened. The Lisbon Treaty strengthened 
Union competences especially in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice. 

Mutual trust for mutual recognition 

Mutual recognition is the cornerstone of judicial cooperation in civil and criminal law matters 
as  enshrined  in  Articles  67,  81  and  82  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European 
Union.  A  good  understanding  of  the  different  national  legal  systems  is  necessary  to  ensure 
recognition of judicial decisions, cooperation between judicial authorities and swift execution 
of decisions. This is also central to building mutual confidence and trust. National judges, at 
all  levels  of  jurisdiction  and  all  locations  from  Sicily  to  Lapland  should  have  an  adequate 
level of knowledge of Union law and national judicial systems. 

1 

OJ 2010 C 115 p.01. 

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Effective implementation of Union law 

Development  of  Union  law  must  be  coupled  with  effective  implementation2,  which 
guarantees legal security and uniform interpretation. To train judges and legal practitioners in 
Union law is one of the key recommendations of Mario Monti's report3 to empower citizens 
and  businesses  to  stand  up  for  their  rights  and  to  ensure  the  effectiveness  of  the  Single 
Market. In the Stockholm Programme Action Plan4 and the EU citizenship report 20105 the 
Commission stated this to be a priority. The European Parliament also underlines that proper 
judicial  training  contributes  significantly  towards  improving  the  operation  of  the  internal 
market and making it easier for citizens to exercise their rights6. 

A clear supporting role for the European Union 

The Lisbon Treaty7 has given the European Union competence to "support the training of the 
judiciary and of judicial staff" in matters relative to judicial cooperation in civil and criminal 
law. The  Europe  2020 Strategy8 calls for efficient investment in training and for a coherent 
legal  context  at  European  level.  The  Commission  will  draw  on  these  fresh  opportunities  to 
create a strong and legitimate framework for training on the Union acquis. 

The European Parliament has consistently advocated the development of a genuine European 
judicial culture as a prerequisite of the European judicial area9. The European Council10 has 
called  for  strong  Union  action  to  foster  a  genuine  European  judicial  and  law  enforcement 
culture. 

Taken together, these elements call for a step change in the way European judicial training is 
organised in the Union in terms of concept and scale, so that it is systematically accessible for 
the legal professionals involved in the implementation of the area of Freedom, Security and 
Justice. 

In  2010,  the  Commission  launched  a  broad  consultation  of  all  stakeholders  including  the 
European Parliament, Member States, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the 
European  Judicial  Training  Network  (EJTN)  and  its  members,  Justice  Forum11  members  in 
particular the Academy of European Law (ERA), the Council of Bars and Law Societies of 
Europe (CCBE), the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE), the European 
Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ), the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme 
Judicial Courts of the European Union, the Association of the Councils of State and Supreme 
Administrative  Jurisdictions  of  the  European  Union.  Their  input12  was  used  to  define  core 
activities and priorities. 

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"A Europe of results – Applying Community law", COM(2007) 502 final. 
M. Monti, A new strategy for the Single Market, 9 May 2010. 
COM(2010) 171. 
COM(2010) 603. 
Resolution on Judicial training – Stockholm Programme, 17 June 2010. 
Articles 81.2.h and 82.1.c TFEU. 
COM(2010) 2020 final. 
Report 2010/2080(INI). 
See note 1, page 2. 
Justice Forum. 
The summary of the findings of the consultation may be found here. 

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2. 

CHANGING GEAR: TRAINING HALF OF THE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS IN THE 
EUROPEAN UNION BY 2020 

There are a large number of legal practitioners in the European Union, including judges, court 
staff and legal professionals of various kinds13. 

Legal practitioners in the 27 Member States 

Professional judges 
Prosecutors 
Lawyers, solicitors, barristers 
Court staff 
Bailiffs 
Notaries 
Total 

79 100 
35 032 
868 615 
351 220 
29 060 
38 269 
1 401 29614 

European  judicial  training  on  the  Union  acquis,  whether  at  national  or  European  level, 
remains  modest.  In  May  2011,  51%  of  judges  and  prosecutors  declared  that  they  had  never 
participated in judicial training on Union or another Member State's law while 74% declared 
that the number of cases involving Union law had increased over the years. 24% of judges and 
prosecutors  had  never  attended  training  on  Union  law  because  no  such  training  had  been 
available15. Activities vary greatly from one Member State to another with the yearly number 
of judges or prosecutors trained ranging from 240 to 13 000. The Commission funded or co-
funded 162 projects encompassing close to 26 000 participants between 2007 and 2010. 

Priority is given to judges and prosecutors as they are responsible for the enforcement and 
respect of Union law, but judicial training is also essential for other legal practitioners. Court 
staff  needs  to  assist  victims  in  line  with  the  European  framework.  European  citizens 
exercising their right to free movement may encounter situations where they need the services 
of lawyers or notaries with expert knowledge of Union legislation. All legal practitioners have 
a role to play to ensure that participation of children in judicial systems is optimal16.  

Training  of  law  enforcement  officers  is  also  important  and  the  Commission  will  present  a 
Communication mid 2012 on the development of a European Training Scheme (ETS) for law 
enforcements officials. 

The  objective  is  to  target  all  legal  practitioners  whether  judges,  prosecutors,  court  staff, 
lawyers or other legal professionals. 

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Articles  81.2.c  and  82.1.c  TFEU  explicitly  target  "Judiciary  and  Judicial  staff".  Lawyers,  while 
constituting an autonomous profession, are an integral and necessary part of judicial activity and they 
play a central role in the implementation of Union law. As for notaries, they are less involved in judicial 
activity but in several Member States they have some competence in the judicial field, which also leads 
them to contribute to the implementation of Union law. Taking into account the spirit and the aims of 
the Treaty's provisions, it is possible to extend these provisions to these two professions. 
European judicial systems 2010, CEPEJ, Council of Europe (Germany: 2006 data). 
Preliminary statistical data; European Parliament study "Judicial training in the EU Member States", to 
be published, October 2011. 
COM(2011) 60. 

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3. 

TRAINING TARGETED AT PROFESSIONALS 

A practical approach to European judicial training 

European judicial training should be practice oriented to attract the practitioners necessary to 
the running of justice systems. It should be relevant for their everyday work, take place during 
short  periods  of  time  and  use  efficient  learning  methods.  In  May  2011,  19%  of  judges  and 
prosecutors had not attended any training on Union law due to lack of time17. 

European  judicial  training  should  encompass  initial  and  continuous  training.  Every  new 
lawyer should be aware of Union law from the outset. Initial training, delivered before or on 
taking up duties, must be complemented by lifelong learning to help legal practitioners to stay 
up-to-date and to know where and how to acquire new skills and information. 

Member States should look upon the time away from the courts in the evaluation of judges 
and prosecutors' workload as an investment in the quality of justice. 

Defining priority areas 

The body of the Union acquis, including substantive and procedural law, judicial cooperation 
instruments  and  the  corresponding  jurisprudence  of  the  CJEU,  should  be  at  the  centre  of 
European judicial training. 

During the consultation, stakeholders identified training needs in the following policy areas, 
which could be considered as priorities for training: environmental law; civil, contract, family 
and commercial law, competition law, intellectual property rights; criminal law (in particular 
the implementation of the European arrest warrant), crime against Union financial interests; 
fundamental rights and data protection. Priorities may also be set where the EU has identified 
low compliance with some sectoral legislation or where sectoral legislation is highly complex 
and technical. 

The European Commission will take into consideration these priority areas when designing 
its financial programmes for training. 

Short term exchanges 

Beyond the knowledge of Union law, it is essential for a European judicial area built on trust 
and on the application of the principle of mutual recognition that legal practitioners improve 
their knowledge of judicial systems across Europe. 

Exchanges  are  one  of  the  best  ways  to  obtain  hands-on  knowledge  of  Union  instruments 
and  other  legal  systems,  to  exchange  experience  and  thus  increase  mutual  trust  and 
understanding. 

The Commission wishes to develop exchanges, starting with newly appointed judges and 
prosecutors.  Exchanges  should  be  organised  during  initial  training  by  national  judicial 
training institutions. From the outset, it would enable judges and prosecutors to appreciate and 
fully engage in the European aspect of their role. 

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See note 15 page 4. 

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The European Commission aims to initiate a two-week exchange programme for new judges 
and prosecutors from 2014 onwards. The objective will be that ultimately all newly appointed 
judges and prosecutors (about 2 500 per year) take part in an exchange organised in national 
judicial training institutions. 

Technology in support of training: European e-Justice Portal and e-learning 

The  European  e-Justice  Portal  is  a  one-stop-shop,  targeted  at  citizens,  businesses  and  legal 
practitioners. It provides a wealth of information in 22 languages that serves as a reference 
tool  in  the  context  of  judicial  training.  The  Portal  will  be  further  developed  to  provide 
information  about  training  providers  and  training  events,  to  ensure  easy  access  to  legal 
databases and high quality training material and also to function as an entry point regarding 
the co-funding possibilities made available by the Commission. 

Investment in e-learning is also necessary, particularly to address the time constraints faced 
by legal practitioners. 

The  European  Commission  will  ensure  that  the  European  e-Justice  Portal  supports 
European judicial training. 

It will promote the development of e-learning as a flexible tool to reach more end-users. 

It will draft practical guidelines, regarding specific learning behaviours in the judicial world 
and the best adapted training methodologies, which will also cover evaluation of quality and 
impact and the use of common quality criteria and indicators. 

Development of language skills  

Mastering a foreign language and its legal terminology is important and should form part of 
the continuous training of legal practitioners. It is a precondition to effective contacts across 
Member States, which are in turn the cornerstone for judicial cooperation. 

It is essential that all stakeholders pay attention to training on legal terminology of foreign 
languages. 

4. 

BUILDING ON EXISTING STRUCTURES AND NETWORKS 

To train half of the legal practitioners in the European Union by 2020 is a shared challenge. It 
will  best  be  tackled  by  building  on  the  strengths  and  experience  of  existing  structures, 
actors  and  networks  whether  national  or  European.  In  this  context,  and  to  ensure  the 
necessary  respect  of  judicial  independence  and  the  self-organisation  of  the  professional 
associations of lawyers, notaries and bailiffs, it would not be appropriate to create a monopoly 
structure at European level. 

The best option is to support the development of European judicial training activities by 
all  stakeholders,  while  ensuring  that  its  framework  meets  all  actors'  needs,  promotes 
synergies and improvement of training results. 

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Building on existing strengths at national level 

There  is  already  a  large  training  capacity  in  the  Member  States,  which  bear  the  main 
responsibility  for  the  quality  and  scale  of  judicial  training.  Judicial  schools  dealing  with 
initial and continuous training exist in 17 Member States. In others, training is organised by 
the  ministry  of  Justice,  the  Council  for  the  judiciary  or  court  services.  Bar  or  notaries' 
associations  set  up  national  requirements  for  continuous  training  of  their  members  and 
organise training activities. 

Existing  structures  at  national,  regional  and  local  level  are  crucial  to  ensure  that  judicial 
training  activities  include  sessions  on  Union  law  and  procedures  and  to  develop  their 
frequency, effectiveness and impact on daily work. 

In 2001 the Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature (France), the Centro de Estudos Judiciários 
(Portugal) and the Escuela Judicial del Consejo General del Poder Judicial (Spain) initiated 
a  close  cooperation  involving  the  exchanges  of  future  judges  and  prosecutors  in  training 
activities  taking  place  in  these  three  countries  which  were focused  on  Union  law  related 
subjects  and  their  own  national  legal  systems.  This  activity  continued  uninterruptedly  since 
then,  being  enlarged  with  the  participation  of  other  training  institutions;  in  2010,  already 
involving 13 countries, it has been integrated into the EJTN framework. 

For several years, the Bar associations of Perpignan and Barcelona have organised annual 
joint seminars to discuss recurring difficulties in implementing the Union legal framework in 
the cross-border cases. 

Initial  training  does  not  exist  in  all  Member  States.  In  May  2011  43%  of  judges  and 
prosecutors  declared  that  they  had  not  studied  Union  law,  the  European  Convention  on 
Human  Rights  or  another  Member  State’s  law  as  part  of  their  law  degree  and  63%  did  not 
have  any  initial  training  in  Union  law  prior  to  taking  up  their  functions18.  Yet  new  legal 
practitioners should have sufficient knowledge of Union judicial cooperation instruments and 
acquire built-in reflexes to refer regularly to European-level jurisprudence, to verify national 
transposition  and  to  use  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the  European  Union's  preliminary  ruling 
procedure. 

Continuous training is available in all Member States but is not always obligatory. It does 
not always cover the Union acquis and judicial cooperation instruments. 

Training on Union acquis should be systematically integrated into initial training for legal 
practitioners,  reflecting  how  national  and  Union  legislation  interact  and  influence  their 
everyday practice. 

The European Commission calls on Member States and the legal professions to ensure that 
legal  practitioners,  in  particular  judges  and  prosecutors,  benefit  from  at  least  one  week's 
training on Union acquis and instruments during their career. 

The European Commission seeks to reinforce cooperation between stakeholders and actively 
encourage  consortia  or  regional  groups  of  national  judicial  schools  to  develop  common 
training. 

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See note 15 page 4. 

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Building on existing strengths at European level 

Existing  judicial  training  providers  and  European  networks  of  legal  practitioners  provide  a 
reliable tool to ensure a significant increase of European judicial training. It is still necessary 
to bridge gaps in training content, frequency of activities and number of participants. 

Role of European-level professional organisations 

European  associations  of  legal  professions  such  as  the  CCBE,  the  CNUE,  the  ENCJ,  the 
Network of Presidents of Supreme Judicial Courts, the European Union Forum of Judges for 
the Environment, etc. have an important coordination role. 

They  are  key  partners  to  promote  European  judicial  training,  evaluate  the  relevance  of 
training  content  and  methodologies,  disseminate  information  on  training  resources  available 
and ensure better uptake. 

European  legal  professional  organisations  should  further  develop  training  activities  and 
common curricula and share best practices with their members. Their continued involvement 
in European judicial training is essential. 

Actions by ERA and other European level training providers 

Judicial  training  providers  at  European  level  are  well  placed  to  provide  training  for 
participants of different nationalities. 

ERA19  provides  continuous  training  for  legal  practitioners  (1 303  trained  in  2010).  It  has 
extensive  experience  in  successfully  organising  Union  law  seminars  for  multicultural 
audiences. ERA's role is important for instance to develop judicial training in accession and 
candidate countries. 

ERA  organises  summer  courses  on  European  criminal  justice  for  judges,  prosecutors  and 
defence  lawyers  from  all  Member  States,  using  active  methods,  including  IT  tools,  to  train 
participants  in  the  use  of  judicial  cooperation  instruments  in  criminal  justice  cross-border 
cases. 

Other  European  training  bodies  with  training  of  legal  practitioners  amongst  their  activities 
include:  the  European  Centre  for  Judges  and  Lawyers  of  the  European  Institute  of  Public 
Administration  (EIPA),  the  European  University  Institute  of  Firenze  (EUI),  the  College  of 
Europe, etc. 

The  European  Commission  will  work  with  ERA  and  European  judicial  training  providers, 
taking  account  of  public  and  private  sector  contributions,  to  ensure  the  availability  of  high 
quality training for a greater number of legal professionals. 

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ERA. 

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The European Judicial Training Network 

The EJTN20 is the network of the national judicial training structures and ERA. It coordinates 
their actions, shares best practices, develops common curricula for judges and prosecutors 
for use at national level and organises seminars using active training methods. Almost 2 000 
judges, prosecutors and trainers take part in its activities every year. Between 2005 and 2010, 
the  EJTN  organised  exchanges  in  courts  for  2 175  judges  and  prosecutors,  enabling 
experienced practitioners to exchange best practices and solutions. 

The  EJTN  should  commit  to  the  reinforcement  of  the  sustainability  of  its  structure  and 
develop a strategy to reach greater numbers of legal practitioners from more Member States. 
The EJTN should consolidate what it has achieved so far and expand by supporting national 
and local level trainers; organising training activities in partnership with the judicial schools; 
developing  training  modules  including  e-learning  modules  and  striving  for  excellence  in 
training methodologies. The EJTN can also be an agent for change by ensuring that training 
projects presented by consortia of national structures for co-funding at European level meet 
criteria and are of high quality. 

The EJTN should reach 1 200 exchanges in courts per year. 

All  Member  States  should  commit  to  reinforcing  their  financial  contribution  and  the 
participation of their national judicial training structures in the EJTN to ensure that it has 
the capacity to play an active role.  

Provided  that  it  demonstrates  a  reinforced  capacity  to  organise  and  coordinate  judicial 
training activities, the European Commission will consider even further support. 

5. 

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AS AN ACTIVE PARTNER 

The Commission will be an active partner of Member States to achieve ambitious targets for 
training of legal practitioners. It will bring added value to the activities undertaken by national 
training  structures  through  concrete  actions  to  improve  the  quantity,  quality,  impact  and 
outreach of the European judicial training scheme, which will include training sessions, cross-
border exchanges and complementary measures. 

5.1. 

Designing new strategies for expansion 

Public-private partnerships 

Training is not the prerogative of the public sector as demonstrated by the activities of the Bar 
associations in this respect. Public-private partnerships can create additional means to answer 
the challenges of a fast-changing European judicial area. New joint arrangements building on 
good practices would allow additional training activities while ensuring that the independence 
of the target audience would not be  jeopardized.  Language  training and e-learning could be 
concerned. 

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EJTN. 

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For example, the Finnish Bar Association organises training courses for lawyers, judges and 
prosecutors  on  legal  matters  in  cooperation  with  the  Universities  of  Turku,  Helsinki  and 
Lapland as well as the ministry of Justice. 

Bodies such as ERA could be central in promoting public-private cooperation. 

Cooperation  with  universities  has  always  been  supported  by  the  European  Parliament.  The 
Commission  could  promote  in  the  future  "knowledge  partnerships"  between  universities, 
judicial schools and bar associations as  encouraged  by  the  Europe  2020  Strategy21. Lessons 
will  be  learnt  from  the  ongoing  pilot  project22  bringing  together  businesses  and  training 
institutions  to  design  and  deliver  new  curricula  and  courses,  to  develop  innovative  training 
methods  and  to  facilitate  the  flow  of  knowledge  between  higher  education  and  the  private 
sector. 

The European Law Institute23 will bring together academics and legal practitioners in research 
projects with practical applications. Therefore, it may be able to give useful input about the 
topics to be covered by training bodies to help bridge gaps. 

The  European  Commission  intends  to  encourage  further  public-private  partnerships  to 
develop innovative training solutions.  

Mutual recognition of training activities 

Schemes should be envisaged so that training followed in another Member State is validated 
in  one's  home  country.  An  example  is  the  partnership  between  the  French,  Luxembourgish 
and  Belgian  bars:  their  members  can  participate  in  common  activities,  which  count  towards 
their yearly training obligations. 

Drawing on experience 

Know-how  and  expertise  gained  in  other  areas  of  vocational  training  should  be  used  in 
judicial training. Duplication of efforts can thus be avoided and the re-use of quality training 
products can be promoted. 

The European Commission could organise an annual gathering with the participation of all 
legal  professions  to  develop  new  outlooks  on  activities  and  facilitate  exchanges  of  good 
practice. 

5.2. 

Providing financial support 

From 2007 to 2010, European judicial training was supported through funding or co-funding 
of projects to a total amount of EUR 35.5 millions. Until now, this has facilitated the training 
of between 4 000 and 9 000 legal practitioners per year. However, this is not enough given the 
size of the target audience and the need to keep up-to-date with Union acquis. 

21 

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23 

"Knowledge alliances" or "partnerships" are promoted by the 2010 Innovation Union Communication, 
one of the flagships of the Europe 2020 Strategy. 
Pilot project for the development of knowledge partnerships. 
European Law Institute. 

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To  reach  more  legal  practitioners  and  to  build  on  the  strengths  of  all  existing  stakeholders, 
additional funding will make a difference in terms of scale and volume of activities that can 
be supported. 

Under the current financial framework, the Commission will boost European judicial training 
by  reinforcing  it  as  a  priority  in  its  existing  work  programmes,  using  all  possible  tools  to 
increase  financial  support.  The  Commission  will  actively  encourage,  notably  through  its 
grants,  the  development  of  training  targeted at  several  Member  States  on  the  Union acquis 
and on national judicial systems24. Award criteria will focus on the development of practice-
oriented, large-scale and long-term projects, which use active training methodologies, produce 
sustainable  results  and  reach  a  large  target  audience.  The  Commission  will  also  make 
available training modules on the Union acquis, such as those successfully developed on EU 
environment law. 

The  Commission  is  also  working  to  improve  the  coherence  and  stability  of  its  calls  for 
proposals  and  to  enable  easier  access  to  European  funds  for  project  promoters.  The 
Commission  is  assessing  how  to  promote  the  participation  in  European  judicial  training 
projects of Croatia25, candidate, potential candidate and neighbourhood countries. 

The European Commission will concentrate its funding towards training within the existing 
programmes  to  support  high-quality  European  judicial  training  projects  with  a  greater 
European impact. 

Under  the  new  multiannual  financial  framework,  European  judicial  training  should  be  a 
major priority to support training of more than 20 000 legal practitioners per year by 2020. 

6. 

CONCLUSION 

Improving  judicial  training  is  essential  to  build  a  European  judicial  area  to  the  benefit  of 
people and businesses. The European Commission wants to take European judicial training to 
a new dimension by building on current proven activities and the possibilities of the Lisbon 
Treaty. 

The future European training scheme will be based on actions of: 

1. 

2. 

3. 

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25 

the  Member  States:  building  on  existing  strengths  to  boost  training  activities 
developed by judicial schools or legal professions on the Union acquis; 

the European-level partners: enhancing their cooperation, increasing the number of 
activities and exchanges, whether through European-level professional organisations, 
training providers or the EJTN; 

the  European  Commission:  increasing  its  financial  support  to  quality  training 
projects,  promoting  consortia  of  judicial  schools,  aiming  at  reaching  20 000  legal 
practitioners trained at European level per year by 2020, boosting the use of modern 
technologies and in particular the European e-Justice Portal. 

Applications  from  notaries  will  be  considered  if  they  concern  the  Union  acquis  in  those  areas  where 
notaries perform judicial activities. 
European Council of 24 June 2011. 

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Strong commitment is needed to ensure that judicial training reaches the level of excellence 
required for a true European judicial culture. The European Commission calls upon all actors 
to take appropriate action: budgets must be allocated; time must be made available, incentives 
developed and clear commitments taken. 

The  European  Commission  envisages  that  these  combined  ambitious  actions  would  lead  to 
over 700 000 legal practitioners taking part in at least one European judicial training session 
or exchange by 2020. 

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