Greetings
Address by the President of the Republic of Hungary, Dr. László Sólyom to the 5th European Jurists’ Forum
Dear Colleagues,
Let me warmly welcome the 5th European Jurists’ Forum! Since 2001, the European Jurists’ Forum has become a significant institution, having raised the prestige of the member states’ jurist meetings to European level as well. Accordingly, it has continued the traditions, established by previous jurists’ meetings. The subjects chosen from the fields of civil-, criminal-, and public law reflected truly, which questions were considered important by the legal society in the given year. Therefore, the volumes, gathering the text of the lectures and addresses of the conferences have become documentations of a time-period, similar to the volumes of jurist meetings of the individual countries which will be examined and quoted even one hundred year later.
Nevertheless, I sincerely hope that the conference and its summarised materials will have a positive impact on the contemporary development of national laws and not least, on the legislation of the European Union. I am sure; this was one of the objectives that led to the formation of the European Jurists’ Forum. From among the subjects of the Fifth Forum let me emphasize one, being on the agenda of the Public law Section; this is the question of sovereignty, first of all in the new member states. As it is reflected in the Treaty of Lisbon and in the preceding treaties, a large numbers of citizens of the European Union attach great importance to this theme. How could we reach the stage, where people would regard both their state and the European Union as their own, using their democratic rights accordingly? The impact of the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Communities on the member states’ laws is also similar.
I am sure that the Forum will not confine itself to the matters of the European Union and its law. Europe is much wider and the common European values and legal traditions as well are broader than the horizon of the member states. Obviously, European law must be regarded in a larger, global context, and in relation with the place and the role of the EU in the world. This is why I await with curiosity how the criminal law section will be dealing with the questions of the guaranties of human rights and freedoms, which – according to my view - must be preserved by all means, even during the fight against international terrorism.
The questions, mentioned above, are pressing and the right answers will influence the future of all of us. Therefore I would like to encourage the participation of our jurist colleagues at the 5th European Jurists’ Forum at Budapest.
Dr. László Sólyom
President of the Republic of Hungary
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Address by the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary, Dr. Katalin Szili
Dear Colleagues,
Dear Reader,
It is a real honour to Hungary, to host the 5th European
Jurist’s Forum and the distinguished European legal
community in our capital. Meetings of this forum have always been important events raising the attention not only of the professionals of the country playing the host, but also the attention of lawyers working all over Europe in different fields of the jurist profession. These international meetings of the European legal community have always had a stimulating affect on the creating minds of the legal science, as well as on the appliers and professional interpreters of the European law. They provided a sound basis for the professional feedback and for the comprehensive exchange of ideas. As a jurist myself, I dare to say that these are indispensable professional events and we politicians have always to find the opportunity to participate in such events, despite of our many tasks and obligations.
Every jurist who exercises his profession to the best of his knowledge contributes greatly, both at national and Union level, to the development, interpretation and practical
implementation of the laws of the European Union, as a legal community, in his chosen or undertaken field. The questions discussed, the points of views arising and the standpoints fighting with each other at the meetings of the European Jurists’ Forum, are sources of serious professional impulses for those who take part in the development of both the national and the Union laws, thereby establishing for us Jurists’ the ”working material”. We all, who are active in the field of the preparation and implementation of legislations in the national parliaments and in the institutions of the European Union, are grateful for their work.
I await curiously and will follow with great expectations the lectures on the subjects of the Forum, and the debates of the agenda at the 5th European Jurists’ Forum. This time not as Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament but as a jurist.
I am looking forward to seeing you!
Dr. Katalin Szili
Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary
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Greeting of Prof. Dr. Gábor Máthé President of the Hungarian Jurists’ Society
Dear Colleagues
I am pleased to welcome on behalf of the Hungarian Jurists’ Society, created in 1879, all the members of the European legal community, and let me to cordially invite you to the 5th European Jurists Forum, to be held at 1-3 October 2009 at Budapest.
We attach great importance to this deservedly outstanding institution, since the questions relating to the state and legal development of the reunifying Europe, the national constitutions and the Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe, the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, the practice of the courts of national states, the actions against cross-border crime and the treatment or the resolution of several other legal problems require comprehensive professional exchange of ideas. These interactive international forums of the lawyers and legal organisations of the European Union’s member states have been until now - according to our experience - rather successful. After Nuremberg-Athens-Geneva-Vienna, another traditional Central-European metropolis offers its hospitality and all the possibilities of further cooperation.
We look forward to meet participants coming from the 27 member states of the European Union and from other Central European countries, and not least from Asia. It would be a great honour for us if we could welcome in our rows the representatives of different legal professions, judges, attorneys, administrative experts, university colleagues, and young lawyers under training.
We are convinced that the European legal community, and one of its significant professional organisations, the European Jurists’ Forum, is one of the key to the fact that in the European Union the rule of law prevails. We are looking forward to seeing you in the nice capital of our hospitable country, and we wish you successful discussions with a quote borrowed from Cicero:
Quod bonum, faustum, felix fortunatumque sit!
Prof. Dr. Gábor Máthé
President of the Hungarian Jurists’ Society