Luxembourg Advocates Unity, Rule of Law at EU Council Meeting

On Tuesday 23 July 2024, Luxembourg’s Minister of Justice, Elisabeth Margue, attended the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) of the European Union in Budapest, under the Hungarian Presidency.

At the beginning of the meeting, Elisabeth Margue made some preliminary remarks and stressed that "institutional work on a strategy will only be credible if the Presidency manages to preserve unity by setting an example. And setting an example also implies respecting our common positions at the international level, particularly concerning Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine," Luxembourg’s Ministry of Justice noted.

Minister Margue then added: "I also stress the need to respect our common values ​​based on the rule of law, which includes, among other things, implementing our laws and the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union."

The first item on the agenda was a discussion on strengthening the legal competitiveness of the European Union and its role in judicial cooperation in civil matters. In this context, Minister Margue noted that legal certainty, based on transparency and consistency of the legislative framework, is a key element for the attractiveness and competitiveness of the European economy. She indicated that "for the time being, it is important to ensure the uniform application of existing instruments in practice."

The second debate, as well as the working lunch, focused on the role and rapid evolution of artificial intelligence in justice. The development of digital information systems in courts will radically change current judicial systems, and AI will likely improve the efficiency of administrative tasks. In this context, the Minister informed that in Luxembourg, in the framework of Paperless Justice, very few AI-based applications exist to date. The only current application is the JUANO (justice-anonymisation) programme, aimed at anonymising judicial decisions.

The last session focused on the strategic orientations for the future of the area of ​​freedom, security and justice of the European Union.