This traditional message of good wishes at the beginning of 2023 is first of all a thank you to all our members for the actions you have enabled us to accomplish thanks to your commitment, both financial and in action. The membership campaign will start in the next few days, so please continue to support our work.

The beginning of this new year 2023 is the ideal moment to look in the rearview mirror and to highlight the energy, creativity, enthusiasm, courage, and audacity of those who have been working for 17 years so that our Think Tank participates in the emergence of ideas to build tomorrow’s judicial expertise in Europe.

A special thought at the beginning of this year for Eric Parize, Deputy Secretary General of the EEEI, who unfortunately left us in November. We would like to pay tribute to him for his intelligence, his humour, and his loyalty to his commitments.

We would particularly like to thank all our institutional partners, whose actions help to strengthen our contacts with national institutions. Let’s quote:

  • In Spain, COGITI, an institutional member since this year.
  • In Italy, the project to create an association that brings together experts who adhere to the values and good practices promoted by the EEEI.
  • At the Court of appeal of Versailles, a symposium on the current challenges for Judicial experts in Accountancy and Finance. Watch the conference again.

No doubt you will be attending the General Assembly on the afternoon of 1ᵉʳ June in Cologne. Save the date and register now.
The European dimension of the Institute is THE fundamental component, THE engine for obtaining funding for our projects. EEEI has initiated, in 2022, two new projects co-financed by the European Commission/e-Justice.

The first project is Find an Expert II whose lead organization is the EEEI in co-partnership with EuroExpert as well as prestigious European official partners. Read all about the kick-off meeting, regular progress updates on WP2 and WP3.
Through this project, we will create a demonstration IT tool for six pilot Member States to interconnect national lists and set up a European search engine for legal experts. Register now for the consensus conference on 2 June 2023. We are convinced that only a decompartmentalized public debate will lead to recommendations. Support and participate in this event, all details in the reference article in this newsletter.

For the second project, VR-Digijust, the EEEI is this time part of a consortium led by our Italian friends. Our institute will coordinate the creation of a European network of virtual training centres dedicated to the practice of European legal instruments (European arrest warrant, etc.) for actors in cross-border criminal proceedings: prosecutors, judges, lawyers, experts, bailiffs, etc. This coordination work will be complemented by the creation of training scenarios and e-modules.
To find out more about the project launch and the kick-off meeting and the actors involved in the project, see the background article in this newsletter.

Europe always Europe… Our status of permanent observer of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe led us to participate, on a regular basis, in the working meetings of the working groups (QUAL-EVAL-SATURN-CYBERJUST/IA) and in the plenary assemblies in Malta in June (EEEI was represented by JR. Lemaire), and in Strasbourg in December (EEEI was represented by E. Claes and S. Dalen Gilhuijs).

At the end of 2022, the CEPEJ changed its President: we address our congratulations to Mr. Depasquale (MT). It should be noted that, following the publication of the CEPEJ-2022 evaluation report based on the 2020 questionnaire, the EEEI has published a note analysing the replies to this questionnaire on judicial expertise and experts. The EEEI wishes to complete and renew the team of participants in these working groups. A special newsletter will be published in the coming weeks on this topic. Furthermore, thanks to the introduction of the CEPEJ, requests for consultation from the judicial authorities of Serbia and Tunisia could be received.

Another topic of interest: training. The EEEI has taken on the role of designer for the Conseil National des Barreaux. You will find all the details on the latest e-learning “Understanding expertise better” and on the organization of the six “master classes” on judicial expertise for lawyers in the reference article in this newsletter.

We note a financial spin-off with the receipt of the first royalties on sales of the “Guide pratique de l’expertise de justice”, a publication initiated by the EEEI: (Lextenso-LGDJ, collection Bibliothèque de l’Avocat).

Communication is essential and nowadays essentially digital. You can regularly follow our news with the relay tools that are our social networks: Twitter, LinkedIn, our website and our newsletter (registration on the homepage of the site and access to the archives). We remind you that a call for membership fees will be sent to you in the coming weeks.

2023 looks set to be a successful year! This is a wish that we express with conviction.
The EEEI Co-Presidency, Secretary, Bureau and Executive Committee members wish you all a happy new year 2023!

Enjoy your reading!