Networking and Dialogue in the European Judicial Arena

• Main Author: DE VISSER, Maartje
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2017
• Subjects: Europen Union; European law; judges; courts; Courts; European Law; Judges
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/1955; https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99209812202601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=Everything&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=any,contains,Research%20Handbook%20on%20EU%20Administrative%20Law&offset=0
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Some two years ago, the post of Director of the Protocol and Information Directorate at the Court of Justice fell vacant and applications were accordingly solicited for a replacement. While this position may not have the obvious allure and legal significance associated with the office of Judge or Advocate-General, one would be mistaken to treat the post as one of only dubious importance. The Protocol and Information Directorate manages the Court’s external relations, including by hosting visitors from national and international judicial courts and organizing the judges’ foreign travels. While such activities were not yet a very common occurrence at the time, Eric Stein famously wrote about the Court being ‘[t]ucked away in the fairyland Duchy of Luxembourg and blessed … with benign neglect’, the Kirchberg has today become a popular destination for national and international judges as well as other (aspiring) legal professionals. Similarly, its regular inhabitants are not content to remain within le Palais, but participate in working visits and other events in the Member States or beyond. That is the topic of the present chapter, which is devoted to inter-court relationships in the European judicial sphere. It unfolds as follows. Section 2 provides an overview of the various modalities for inter-court interactions, ranging from formal and direct avenues for contact to more informal and indirect channels.