Print
See related documents
Recommendation 1896 (2010) Final version
Judicial corruption
1. The Parliamentary Assembly, recalling
its Resolution 1703 (2010) on
judicial corruption, regards the eradication of judicial corruption
as a priority for the action of the Council of Europe, in that it
threatens the rule of law, which is the backbone of a pluralistic
democracy, and favours impunity.
2. It congratulates the Committees of Ministers for having issued
terms of reference to a Group of Specialists on the Judiciary (CJ-S-JUD)
to revise Committee of Ministers Recommendation No. R (94) 12 on the
independence, efficiency and role of judges, focusing on national
courts. It suggests that the group of specialists take into account
the conclusions of the Assembly’s Resolutions 1703 (2010) on judicial
corruption and 1685 (2009) on
allegations of politically motivated abuses of the criminal justice
system in Council of Europe member states, and make explicit reference
to the fight against corruption of judges in the explanatory report
to the revised draft recommendation.
3. It encourages the Consultative Committee of European Prosecutors
(CCPE) to persevere in its role as guardian of the due application
of Committee of Ministers Recommendation Rec(2000)19 on the role
of public prosecution in the criminal justice system, bearing in
mind particularly the independence of prosecutors and having regard
to the reforms which have taken place in the member states since
the recommendation was adopted. The Assembly encourages the CCPE
to review this recommendation in a similar way to the current revision
of Recommendation No. R (94) 12.
4. The Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to draw up
a model code of conduct directed at judicial officials, along the
lines of the model code of conduct for public officials appended
to Committee of Ministers Recommendation No. R (2000) 10 on codes
of conduct for public officials. In this context, it would be expedient to
refer to Opinion No. 3 (2002) of the Consultative Council of European
Judges of Europe (CCJE) on the principles and rules governing judges’
professional conduct, in particular ethics, incompatible behaviour
and impartiality.
5. Noting that the Communication from the European Commission
to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union
of 10 June 2009 concerning the Stockholm Programme advocates periodical evaluation
of the efforts made by the European Union and the member states
to combat corruption, and considering that such an initiative is
liable to duplicate the work of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO),
the Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to strive for closer
co-operation between GRECO and the relevant institutions of the
European Union, inter alia, through
European Union participation in GRECO, as foreseen by the GRECO
statute, in order to guard against duplications and promote synergies.
6. The Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to gather
figure-supported information on prosecutions and convictions of
judicial officials in the Council of Europe member states. To guarantee
its usefulness, a study of this kind should be updated regularly.
7. Lastly, the Assembly invites the Committee of Ministers to
give the European Charter on the Status of Judges wider publicity
which, although it is of a purely declarative character, should
be a de facto reference for the member states.