The Supreme Administrative Court of the Slovak Republic launches a pilot project in cooperation with the Court of Justice of the European Union

During the past three weeks, Jozef Čuboň, an intern from the CJEU, worked at the Supreme Administrative Court. His work in the highest institution of administrative justice was made possible by a pilot project between the local court and a joint judicial body of the European Union, which took place under the auspices of the President of the Court Pavel Naď and Judge of the CJEU Miroslav Gavalec. 

Jozef Čuboň, Deputy Head of the Slovak Translation Section of the CJEU, prepared a number of interesting lectures and workshops for the judges of the Supreme Administrative Court and for the staff of its Chancellery during the internship. These focused mainly on topics related to the preliminary ruling procedure. Jozef Čuboň, a lawyer, talked to the participants in particular about how to properly initiate preliminary proceedings. His lectures also focused on case-law in the field of the environment, value added tax, as well as the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

“I am sincerely glad that I had the opportunity to work for three weeks at the Supreme Administrative Court, where it was an honour to meet highly qualified experts from the ranks of judges, their assistants and analysts. This was a pilot project of cooperation between the CJEU and the Slovak judicial authorities to strengthen mutual communication and exchange of information regarding preliminary rulings, which are becoming increasingly important,” said Jozef Čuboň, a lawyer at the CJEU. He added that his wish is that this format of cooperation, which has proven itself in practice, should be continued in other judicial authorities in the Slovak Republic.

“The work of experts and the exchange of good practice have been a fundamental pillar of our court since its establishment. That is why I am very pleased that together with Judge Miroslav Gavalec we managed to create the ground for this excellent project, which resulted in the pilot year of Mr. Jozef Čuboň’s tenure at the Supreme Administrative Court. I would like to thank him for his expert preparation of many interactive working meetings and discussion Panels at the local court. I am convinced that the successful start of this project heralds its successful continuation in the years to come,” said the President of the Court Pavol Naď. He added that the Supreme Administrative Court has managed to file several petitions for preliminary rulings since its establishment. “I believe that not only these, but also all the others that the local court will file in the future will contribute to the development of case law that will be used by all courts of the European Union Member States.”