Warsaw, Poland, Spring 2023

Click on the image to download a larger size.

CONFERENCE REPORT

The 2023 ECBA Spring Conference opened with the usual Friday reception, this time at the Warsaw Bar Association of Advocates historical venue, where Vincent Asselineau, Chair of the ECBA, welcomed the delegates. The guests also received a warm welcome from Mikolaj Pietrzak, Dean of the Warsaw Bar Council and co-recipient of the 2021 Scott Crosby human rights award, together with the Polish Judge Igor Tuleya, who was a guest at the reception too.

After a joyful evening of reunion, the ECBA members, old and new, guests and speakers, attended the auditorium of the Fine Arts Academy of Warsaw on Saturday. Mikolaj Pietrzak, Dean of the Warsaw Bar Council and ECBA member, set the tone of the conference by reminding us the current populist climate in Europe, the backsliding of human rights and the crisis of the rule of law.

Vincent Asselineau, Chair of the ECBA, recalled the essential work of the ECBA in this context as a direct and key interlocutor of the EU Commission, EU Parliament, Council of Europe and ICC.

He then left the floor to Vânia Costa Ramos who, despite her ankle injury, in few well-chosen words reminded us of our role in upholding the rule of law before introducing the two keynote speakers: Prof Marek Safjan, judge at the CJEU, a specialist of constitutional law and keen interest around constitutional identity and Prof Piotr Hofmański, President of the International Criminal Court [ICC], a specialist of criminal and international law heading the ICC since 2015. The ICC recently took a brave step in the context of the Ukrainian War.

Read more...

Programme

Keynote speeches

Introduction by Vânia Costa-Ramos, ECBA Vice Chair, Portugal

Prof. Marek Safjan, Judge of the Court of Justice of the EU

Prof. Piotr Hofmański, President of the International Criminal Court

Panel 1 - Rule of Law and Independence of the Legal Profession

Chair: Mikołaj Pietrzak, Dean of the Warsaw Bar Association, Poland

Panel 2 - Human Rights

Chair: Alexis Anagnostakis, ECBA Human Rights Officer, Greece