Portuguese Judge Lobo, a judge on an internship: Citizens need to know that we are here for them

“The differences between the Supreme Administrative Court in Portugal and in Slovakia are significant. Perhaps the biggest one is that your court is still at the beginning. It is this fact that you should take full advantage of, so that the reputation of the court is carried right from its foundations, ” says the Portuguese Judge, who adds that the establishment of a supreme administrative court is a unique and exceptional thing for all. “It is very difficult to change something that has already happened. That is why it is sympathetic that the representatives of the highest administrative court in Slovakia do not have to change the judicial institution at this moment, but to develop it.”

President of the Supreme Administrative Court Pavol Naď and Judge Ana Paula de Fonseca Lobo. Photo © Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic.

Already during her first days in Slovakia, the Portuguese Judge had a number of meetings. The first ones were with the representatives of the Supreme Administrative Court. Judge Lobo was welcomed at the seat of the Supreme Administrative Court by the Vice-President Marián Trenčan. The welcome was followed by meetings with the Ambassador of the Portuguese Republic in Slovakia, as well as with law students at the Comenius University in Bratislava. The Judge was accompanied at the university by the Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court, Professor Juraj Vačok.

During her meetings with representatives of judicial institutions, the Portuguese Judge was asked how to restore people’s trust in judicial institutions. According to her, it is not necessary to change things that have already happened, but to look at the way they have happened and how to do it better in the future. “My advice is simple. Try to discuss and communicate a lot. Look at the cause of the failure and never repeat it again.”

Vice-President of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic Miloš Kolek and Judge Ana Paula de Fonseca Lobo. Photo © Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic.

She adds that nowadays, when many people have access to social networks, a lot of open communication is required. She also thinks that being a judge does not automatically make anyone a trustworthy person. “Every judge has to build that trust by their own actions. We, judges, must first and foremost be truthful, so that citizens know that we are there for them.”

During her two-week internship at the Supreme Administrative Court, Judge Ana Paula da Fonseca Lobo also met with the President of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic, Ján Šikuta, the Vice-President of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic, Miloš Kolek, and the Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, Jana Baricová, with judges of the Supreme Administrative Court Katarína Cangárová, Zuzana Šabová, Petr Potásch and Juraj Vačok, as well as with the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Radomír Jakab.