The Technical Project Committee discussed the outcomes and plans for 2022
On 9 December 2021, the project “Strengthening the profession of lawyer in line with European standards”* held its Third Technical Project Committee meeting to discuss the project progress and to endorse the working plan for the remaining period of the project.
This year, the pandemic situation continued to affect the work and communication throughout many international projects of the Council of Europe, making it almost impossible to meet in person. Nevertheless, the project activities went on, including online discussions, presentations, the work of international experts.
The key outcomes and achievements of 2021 were presented. The series of cross-country comparative reviews on various aspects of the lawyers’ profession remain the key focus of the project. Out of eight reviews planned in the timeframe of the project, four have already been published**. The other three comparative reviews are in progress and the 8th review, the final one, is planned for 2022.
The event gathered representatives of the Project’s partner institutions, among them the Bar associations and Ministries of Justice and Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the human rights associations and other bodies from the participating countries – Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as the EU delegations.
Ms Anna Karapetyan, Ministry of Justice Armenia, spoke about important developments in the country. The Government’s 5-year Action Plan includes a section on the development of legislation; these reforms will be carried out in close cooperation with the Bar Association of Armenia. The activities of the project will be of added value to the ongoing reforms. Also in Moldova, as Mr William Massolin, Head of CoE Office in Chisinau, said at the meeting, the project largely contributes to the reform agenda of the Government, which also covers enhancing the independence of the legal profession.
Mr Viktor Gorlenko, Ministry of Justice Ukraine, said that the Ministry found very interesting the cross-country reviews on “Professional standards of interaction of lawyers and judges in courts” and “Systems of legal representation, including free legal aid and the monopoly of advocates”.
Ms Tamta Devdariani, Georgian Bar Association, commented that all the research and assessment done within the project were very useful and the GBA is ready to take an active part in the project in the future.
The agenda for upcoming months envisages the development of country-specific action plans based on the recommendations of the cross-country reviews. A series of interaction initiatives are also on the agenda, among which a regional meeting between the Ministries of Justice and the Bars, joint meeting of judges and lawyers interlinked with the cross-country review “Professional standards of interaction of lawyers and judges in courts” are also on the agenda.
The possible ways to make some project events available and open for bar associations from other countries have also been discussed during the online meeting.
The project activity is planned until the end of August 2022. In the meantime, new developments can be discussed. Ms Lilit Daneghian, Deputy Head of Co-operation Programmes Division, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Council of Europe, commented that the project partners will be invited to share their ideas and considerations on future steps in the regional framework under the new cycle of Partnership for Good Governance.
The final meeting of the technical project committee is scheduled for June 2022.
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*The project “Strengthening the profession of lawyer in line with European standards” is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe within the framework of the Partnership for Good Governance (PGG).
** Please find the published cross-country reviews here: