About

The European Justice Stakeholders Forum (EJSF) is a high level platform for funded projects, events and campaigns between the legal profession and European Union (EU) law and policymakers on major challenges facing the justice sector, legal profession and the rule of law.

The Forum was launched in 2016 in the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Brussels at a high level event co-hosted by Chair of the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee Mr Pavel Svoboda and by EESC member Mr Arno Metzler, and with the participation of a number of distinguished speakers including the European Commissioner for Justice, Mrs Věra Jourová who made the opening speech, and the Commission Director General for Justice, Mrs Tiina Astola.

The EJSF was set up to fill a need, namely a forum where practitioners, as those closest to EU citizens, could meet and engage with law and policy makers in the EU justice sector in order to address major cross-cutting legal issues and challenges facing EU citizens and the legal profession and to support sound policy and law making. For more information about our activities click here.

If you are interested to learn more about the EJSF including potentially using the Forum for a relevant event, campaign or project, please contact us here. Expressions of interest for topics for future EJSF plenaries are also welcome. Relevant organisations and individuals including law firms, legal associations, corporations, research institutes and NGOs are all welcome to come forward with proposals.

The running of the EJSF including coordination of projects and organisation of meetings and events is conducted by Passerelle public affairs, Dr Fiona Murray, acting as secretariat. For more information about the Forum and to get involved, click on contact.

Testimonials

Working with Passerelle and Fiona Murray on the European Justice Stakeholder Forum project has always been a pleasure. Their proposals were creative, competent, constructive and delivered prefectly on time.

Arno Metzler, Vice President Group III

European Economic and Social Committee, Brussels

Professional, efficient, results-focused. I highly applaud Passerelle’s initiative in creating the European Justice Stakeholder Forum. The forum serves a valuable need for a platform for high level discussion and consensus between EU law makers and civil society on major cross-cutting challenges affecting the legal profession, rule of law and access to justice for Europe’s citizens.

Diana Wallis, Council member and former President

European Law Institute, Vienna

Let me first say that I find the New European Justice Stakeholders Forum an excellent idea. I see from the concept note that it is a forum where all relevant stakeholders and policymakers from the European Commission, the European Parliament, Member States, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe can meet to get to know one another, discuss key issues and new challenges, share best practices, support and inform policymakers and engage in policymaking. This should be a very important contribution to our efforts to establish the rule of law.

Dr. Hans Corell

Former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and the Legal Counsel of the United Nations

The European Justice Stakeholders Forum brings together legal practitioners and policymakers. Once again, at the 3rd EJSF plenary in November 2018, the discussions raised many ideas on what lawyers, judges and even individual citizens can do to maintain, defend and strengthen the EU values. It was both a pleasure and an honour to participate.

Heidi Hautala

MEP, Vice President European Parliament

Making Fundamental Rights a reality depends on an independent and impartial judiciary; in the machine room of the ship of fundamental rights we need effective law and justice! It is thus core to have initiatives like the EJSF. The forum allows for discussion and engagement between legal practitioners and policymakers on how best to address current challenges.

Gabriel N. Toggenburg

Senior Legal Advisor, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)

Plenaries

The EJSF’s flagship event is the annual high level EJSF plenary bringing together senior legal and justice stakeholders from the EU institutions and EJSF private sector members to discuss and seek solutions on major issues affecting the rule and practice of law and justice in the EU.

The augural EJSF plenary in February 2016 – which also officially launched the Forum – took place in the European Economic & Social Committee (EESC) and was co-hosted by MEP Mr Pavel Svoboda, chair of the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee and EESC member Mr Arno Metzler.

Expressions of interest for topics for future EJSF plenaries are also welcome. Contact us here.