Newsletter N .10 | May 2022
Dear Project Partners, dear Fellows,
This issue of the FRICoRe Newsletter, offers a presentation of the following training events:
- The TTTW on the Right to an Effective Remedy in Collective Redress Proceedings
- The TTTW on Fundamental Rights, Powers of the Courts and Duties of Cooperation
- The FRICoRe Final Conference
1. The TTTW on the Right to an Effective Remedy in Collective Redress Proceedings.
The workshop “The right to an Effective Remedy in Collective Redress Proceedings: A Cross-Sectoral Training for European Judges and Trainers” took place on 10-11 March 2022. In order to expand the possibilities of participation despite the persistent health situation, the workshop was organized in the dual format both on-site in Barcelona and remotely on Zoom. The event is the second “Training the Trainers” Workshop.
The event was intended for judges, lawyers and trainers to be trained.
The workshop focused on collective redress in its private and public dimensions as a tool for ensuring the rights of an effective remedy and fair trial enshrined in Article 47 CFREU.
Thanks to the cross-sector perspective of the "Training the Trainers" module, the subject was investigated with particular reference to the collective dimensions in consumer protection and data protection law, as well as with reference to health and asylum rights from a procedural law perspective and from the perspective of the role of the judge in these proceedings.
The event was opened by the first roundtable titled “Art. 47 CFR and the right to an effective collective remedy: in search of general principles”. The panel was chaired by Prof Fabrizio Cafaggi (Italian Council of State) and consisted of the judges Ilaria Gentile (Tribunal of Milan, Italy), Bernard McCloskey (High Court in Northern Ireland, UK) and Eleni Ververopoulou (Court of Thessaloniki, Greece). All speakers presented in person from the workshop venue and provided perspectives from their own national case law on the topic. Based on this, a Q&A session with the audience took place.
On the occasion of the first interactive session “Designing Hypothetical Sessions”, all the participants were divided into three working groups: two organized at the workshop venue and one online via Zoom. Each group was entrusted to members of the partner teams so that they could illustrate the reference cases and lead the discussion. The interactive session lasted about an hour and was followed by a short discussion on the results achieved in the plenary room.
The afternoon session was opened by the second roundtable focused on “Art. 47 CFR, Access to collective redress and standing of associations in the context of environmental damages, consumer rights, health rights and non-discrimination claims”. The panel was chaired by Lottie Lane (University of Groningen) and consisted of Ksenija Dimec (Court of Rijeka, Croatia), Alex Ferreres (Lawyer, Spain) and Triantafyllia Bakalopoulou (Court of Thessaloniki, Greece). All speakers presented in person from the workshop venue and provided perspectives from their own national case law on the roundtable’s subject. A lively Q&A session with the audience follow.
To conclude, Ignacio Ulloa Rubio (Staff attorney of the Spanish Constitutional Court Judge at the General Court (2013-2019)) gave his keynote speech on “Consumers effective redress of damages in public and private enforcement of EU Competition Law: the Trucks’ cartel in Spain”.
The second day began with the third and last roundtable of the workshop on “Art. 47 CFR Coordination mechanisms between individual and collective claims seeking redress for the violation of fundamental rights and other EU rights”. The panel was chaired by Tobias Nowak (University of Groningen) and saw the participation of judge Alberto Barbazza (Tribunal of Treviso, Italy), who presented on-site, as well as Clément Malverti (Council of State, France), Pedro Paes de Vasconcelos (Lawyer and Professor at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal) and Federico Pistelli (Researcher at University of Trento, Italy) who connected via Zoom.
The subsequent interactive session followed the same division into small groups and the same methodology as the first one. The session was closed with the general discussion in the plenary room on the issues raised during the group work.
To conclude, a panel discussion specifically focused on judicial training and e-learning took place. Thanks to the contributions from Diana Ungureanu (High Court of Cassation and Justice, Romania), Antonios Froudas (Hellenic Court of Audit, Greece) and Federica Casarosa (European University Institute, Italy), concrete examples and future perspectives were provided on the transition from face-to-face judicial training to the e-learning mode. In particular, Federica Casarosa focused on the e-learning module of the FRICoRe project under development.
2. The TTTW on Fundamental Rights, Powers of the Courts and Duties of Cooperation.
The workshop “Fundamental Rights, Powers of The Courts and Duties of Cooperation: A Cross-Sectoral Training” took place on 7-8 April 2022 in the hybrid format both on-site in Wasaw and remotely on Zoom.
The training event was the last of the 3 “Training the Trainers” Workshops planned as part of the project. The event was intended for judges, lawyers and trainers to be trained.
The purpose of the workshop was to help trainers to focus on the powers and duties of national courts in cases concerning fundamental rights. Emphasis was placed on three topics:
- the impact of the duty of sincere cooperation on national case law;
- ex officio powers and the ascertainment of a violation of EU law; and
- the obligations of national courts in the context of effective judicial protection and fundamental rights, with a focus on the environment. Each topic was addressed from a cross-sectoral perspective across the areas of consumer protection, data protection, non- discrimination, health, and asylum and migration.
The judicial training workshop was structured in two different sessions lasting over two days, both characterized by the usual combination of roundtables and interactive training sessions.
On the first day Tobias Nowak (University of Groningen) chaired the first roundtable on “The duty of sincere cooperation of national courts and its impact on national case law in the field of fundamental rights”. The roundtable was composed of the following speakers: Aleksandra Rutkowska (Warsaw Regional Court – Poland), Herman van Harten (The Hague Court of Appeal – The Netherlands), Diana Ungureanu (High Court of Cassation and Justice – Romania) and Beatrice Magarò (Court of Appeal of Catanzaro – Italy). With the sole exception of judge Magarò, who participated via Zoom, the other panelists gave their presentations from the workshop venue in Warsaw. After the four presentations, room was left for questions and comments.
After the roundtable, participants were divided into 3 working groups (two on-site and one online) to discuss hypothetical cases relating to the topic and their use in the judicial training activities.
The day was closed with the second roundtable dedicated to “Ex officio powers and the ascertainment of a violation of EU law” and chaired by Lottie Lane (University of Groningen). The roundtable was composed of the following speakers: Anne Witters (Market Court, Brussels – Belgium), Jakub Petkiewicz (District Court in Opole Lubelskie – Poland), Giuseppe Fiengo (Tribunal of Naples – Italy) and Jesús Ángel Suárez Ramos (Senior Judge at Las Palmas – Spain). Judge Petkiewicz was present in Warsaw, whereas the other panelists intervened on Zoom. As usual, presentations from the speakers were followed by a Q&A round from the audience.
The second day hosted two keynote speeches. The first speech was delivered by Raffaele Sabato (Judge at the European Court of Human Rights), introduced by Aurelia Colombi Ciacchi (UG), who presented on “Matters raised by a court of its own motion in the context of the right to adversarial proceedings: considerations in the experience of ECHR”. The second keynote speaker was Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk (Judge at the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union), introduced by Mateusz Grochowski (INP-PAN), with a presentation on “Effective judicial protection before the EU General Court”.
The FRICoRe Project is thankful to Raffaele Sabato and Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk for widely contributing to the workshop and its success.
The day continued with a second interactive group session that focused on powers of the courts in consumer and data protection cases.
The workshop was closed by a panel discussion on “Training judges and lawyers on powers of the courts and duties of cooperation: How to design, from face-to-face to e-learning” chaired by Paola Iamiceli (UNITN). The panel was composed of the following speakers: Denisa Petriláková (Linguist and methodologist at the EJTN) and Federica Casarosa (European University Institute, coordinator of the work on the FRICoRe e-learning modules), connected via Zoom, as well as Chiara Salamone (Tribunal of Catania, European Gaius district trainer) who presented in person from the workshop venue. The panelists introduced and contextualized their own varied experience with judicial and legal training in different settings, followed by a discussion with the participants. The panel was also an opportunity to present the developments of the FRICoRe e-learning modules and to collect feedback on the courses from the experts in the panel and the other participants.
The FRICoRe team is grateful to all those who feed the discussion throughout the “Training the Trainees” programme as speakers, trainers and active attendees.
3. The FRICoRe Final Conference.
The final conference of the FRICoRe project took place in the hybrid format, both remotely on Zoom and on-site in Brussels, on 26-27 May 2022.
The conference was aimed at presenting the results achieved throughout the three-year judicial training project.
Based on the cross-sector perspective characterising FRICoRe, during the conference all the key topics of the project were dealt with, with particular reference to the effective protection of fundamental rights, the dialogue among the courts as a way for building a European legal culture grounded on fundamental rights and the role of the judge in the implementation of the principles of effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness of sanctions and remedies against infringements of rights guaranteed by EU law.
More specifically, the cross-sector approach allowed exploring these issues with reference to the five legal areas of the project, from consumer protection to data protection and from non-discrimination to health law and immigration and asylum.
Special attention was also devoted to the multiple training tools developed throughout FRICoRe, as well as to insights into future perspectives both in the field of protection of fundamental rights and in specific judicial training in this field and in the application of Art. 47 CFR.
The conference brought together European and national judges, also from countries not directly involved in the project consortium, as well as lawyers and academics from the project partner institutions.
Overall, the event involved 40 attendees in Brussels, in addition to speakers and discussants connected via Zoom.
Special acknowledgments go to all those who contributed to the success of the conference by feeding the discussion and analysis both from the conference room and remotely. These thanks also and above all go to all those who in various capacities, as partners, speakers, FRICoRe fellows and collaborators, have followed the entire development of the three-year judicial training project until the concluding event.
