Between 16 and 21 June 2024, the EU4Justice Project with the support of Expertise France, following the project’s work plan, organized a Study Visit to the General Inspectorate of Justice in Paris, France for the Office of the High Justice Inspector, including project experts, inspectors, assistant inspectors, and members of the cabinet.
The team from the HJI was welcomed by the Chief of the General Inspectorate of Justice, Mr. Christophe Straudo, who gave a presentation on the various functions of the General Inspectorate of Justice and the dimensions of inspection work. The Albanian delegation from the Office of the High Inspector of Justice held working sessions with the Ethics Department team, discussing ethics, the pre-disciplinary procedures of magistrates, administrative investigations, methodology, defense rights, and objectivization techniques.
The HJI team had a working session at the Court of Paris, where they were welcomed by the President of the Court, Mr. Stéphane Noël, and the Chief Prosecutor of the Court, Ms. Laure Beccuau, who presented the organization and functioning of the court and prosecution and discussed issues of ethics of magistrates, focusing on the role of the court and prosecution leaders.
Furthermore, the Albanian delegation held a working session with the Chairman of the Ethics Board of the Ministry of Justice, Mr. François Feltz, who presented the role and conditions of establishing the Ethics Board structure, the organization, and functioning methods of this structure.
During a visit to the National School of Magistrates in Paris, the delegation from the HIJ was welcomed by the school’s director, Ms. Nathalie Roret, and the training and external relations team introduced them to the functions of the school, with a focus on training activities for magistrates in the field of ethics. The disciplinary procedure of magistrates was presented in a separate session by Ms. Soizic Guillaume, Deputy Director of Human Resources for the judiciary, followed by discussions on concrete work experiences.
This study visit aimed to familiarize the HJI staff with the French practice and is part of the professional exchanges between the two inspection institutions, initiated by training visits of French inspectors to Tirana in 2021 and 2023.
EU4JUSTICE is an EU Contribution Agreement Project implemented by AICS, Expertise France, and FIIAPP. The project’s overall objective is to improve the capacity of the independent justice institutions in Albania.
