Hub/SIG Name: ELI hub for Slovenia
Date of Establishment: 14.4.2014
Coordinators: European Centre for Dispute Resolution (ECDR)
Active Members/Participants
Membership of the Slovenian hub is not formally registered. Any interested individual or institution is welcomed to participate in the hub. Events, organized in the past, brought together several hundreds of active participants from the judiciary, the parliament, the government and other state bodies, law practice, universities etc.
Report on Activities
Representative of the hub Mr. Aleš Zalar, as a member of the ELI’s Project Group, contributed to the development and adoption of the ELI/ENCJ Statement on Relationship between Formal and Informal Justice: Courts and ADR (2016-2018).
Draft Statement was presented by Mr. Aleš Zalar at the 2nd meeting of the South-East Europe (SEE) Network of Association of Mediators, organized by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) in Zagreb (Croatia) on 24-25 October 2017.
Upon proposal of the representatives of the ELI Slovenia’s hub, RCC decided to commission a checklist/guidelines study with recommendations on court-related ADR, based upon ELI/ENCJ Statement on Courts and ADR (RCC Report from 30th October 2017).
ELI Statement on Courts and ADR was presented by Mr. Aleš Zalar at the international conference on mediation as primary dispute resolution option, which took place from 10th-11th May 2018 in Belgrade.
Upon invitation of the Secretariat, Mr. Aleš Zalar will be among speakers at the ERA’s conference in Trier in November 2018 where ELI’s Statement on Courts and ADR will be further presented and promoted.
Upon the proposal of the European Commission, expert consultation of representatives of ELI hub for Slovenia with the representative of the European Commission took place in Ljubljana in April 2017 concerning dispute system design options to be proposed by the European Commission to the EU Member States when drafting bilateral investment treaties (BIT’s) and amending existing ones.
Referring to the recent landmark decision of the CJEU in a case Achmea BV (Case C-284/16) and taking into account pending arbitration in Vattenfall case (ICSID ARB 12/12), the public expert discussion on the future of State-Investor arbitration and mediation in the EU is planned to be organized by the ELI’S hub for Slovenia in the following month.
Representatives of the ELI’S hubs from Slovenia, France and Italy met in Vienna (during ELI’S annual meeting) and decided to organize first joint meeting of three hubs in Ljubljana in a year 2018. Among selected topics, implications of Brexit where identified as of highest priority therefore as a keynote speaker Honorable Justice Lord Jonathan Mance (UK) kindly accepted to join that meeting, which will be organized in early September 2018. The public part of this event will be promoted among domestic stakeholders.
Upon proposal of ELI’S hub for Slovenia the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia included mediation as one of key topics of the Bled Strategic Forum, which brings together more than 1000 diplomats, politicians and legal experts from all five continents and will take place on 10th-11th September 2018. Representative of the hub Mrs. Katarina Kresal, former minister of home affairs as a panelist, will present also the activities of ELI in this field.
Outstanding contribution to ELI’s activities was performed by member of ELI’S hub for Slovenia Mr. Boštjan Zalar, who coordinated the ELI’s project on Detention of Asylum Seekers and Irregular Migrants and the Rule of Law:
Kiev, 20-21 April 2017: Asylum Systems Quality Initiative in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, phase II (UNHCR, workshop for judges), presentation of selected topics including ELI project on detention.
Ljubljana, 8-9 May 2017, Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, ACTIONES seminar for judges and lawyers organised by the European University Institute (Florence), Judicial Training centre and Faculty of Law; presentation of the selected topics including: “Project of the European Law Institute: Detention of Asylum Seekers and Irregular Migrants and the Rule of Law.”
Belgrade, 4-5 July 2017: “Judicial Aspects of European Asylum Law: Introduction to the CEAS”, training event organised by EASO for judges of Serbia; presentation of the selected topics, including the ELI project on detention.
Trento, University of Trento, 2-3 October 2017: Re-jus Transnational Training Workshop: Towards Effective Justice in the Fields of Asylum and Immigration; presentation of the topic: “The role of the Charter rights to good administration, fair trial, effective remedy and general principles of EU law in the field of asylum and immigration” and “Check-lists and other instruments for a more effective judicial practice in the field of asylum and immigration detention.”
Brussels, 23-24 October 2017, Final Conference of the ACTIONES project (EUI, Florence); Active Charter Training through Interaction of National Experiences; presentation of the topic: “The Road to Luxembourg through Preliminary Ruling” (including discussion on ELI project on detention).
Chisinau, 30-31 October 2017: Asylum Systems Quality Initiative, Regional Conference for Legal Aid Providers on Providing Legal Assistance to Asylum Seekers and Refugees; presentation of the topics: “Building Legal Aid System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Europe: The Experiences of Slovenia” and “Selection of 12 Basic European Standards/Criteria for Effective Judicial Protection in Disputes on International Protection” and “Quality Standards and Tools: Judicial Perspective” (including presentation of Eli project on detention).
Stockholm, 2-3 November 2017, EJTN Administrative Law Project: Judicial Training on EU Asylum Law (transnational workshop for judges); presentation of the topic: “Overview of Milestones in (Legislation and) Case Law of the CJEU” (including ELI project on detention).
Malta, 20-21 November 2017, EASO Professional development workshop on the Common European Asylum System; moderation of the workshop and presentation of the selected topics, including ELI project on detention.
Ljubljana 15-16 March 2018: moderation of the seminar for newly appointed refugee counsellors; presentations of selected topics, including ELI project on detention.
Forthcoming events where the ELI project on detention will be promoted in discussions are:
Catania, Sicily, 12-14 September 2018, Joint International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges (IARMJ-Europe) and Scuola Superiore della Magistratura Conference. “The Right to Effective Judicial Protection under EU Asylum Law” (parallel session 2: legal issues surrounding detention)
CJEU, Luxembourg, 22-23 November 2018, EASO High Level Judicial Roundtable with CJEU, ECtHR and IARLJ-Europe.
Report on Governance
There is no formal organization of the hub in forms of governing bodies and there is also no need to introduce it. The hub is operating as a network of individuals and institutions, interested in the EU legal issues to which everyone could contribute.
Channels of communications and dialogue within this network are opened and transparent. Activities are announced and promoted via web site of ECDR, articles in professional magazines, press releases, personal or institutional invitations etc. Any ELI member is more than welcomed to propose or initiate activity which is in the interest of ELI.
Nevertheless, it is important that ELI’S hub for Slovenia can rely on professional management and administration structure, excellent space facilities as well as funding, provided by the ECDR as a private, non-profit institute.
Report on Funding
The ELI’S hub for Slovenia ensures main funding for its ‘activities through on-going financial contributions of ECDR and occasionally through contributions of respective institutions when an event is co-organized, for example by the Parliament. A lot of pro-bono activities of individual experts were registered as well.
Additional Comments
In order to increase the relevance of hubs and provide sustainability of their operations, it is recommended to provide hubs with certain financial support from the budget of ELI upon justified demand, issued by a hub. Standards of such justification should be elaborated.
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