Opening speech in the ACA-Europe seminar in Stockholm, Sweden

Madam President, kära Helena, dear colleagues, chers collégues

Welcome to Stockholm to the first seminar during the Finnish presidency! No, we are not in Finland, even if Finland was a part of Sweden up to 1809 (the so-called Eastern half of the Kingdom, östra rikshalvan).

Yesterday we had a wonderful opportunity to visit the Royal Palace (for obvious reasons, we do not have a Royal Palace in the Republic of Finland) and see the exhibition “Vasa to Bernadotte, 1523-1973-2023”. Gustaf Vasa was the King of Sweden from 1523 to 1560.Under his leadership Sweden, i.a., separated from the Nordic Kalmar Union, dominated by the Queen of Denmark-Norway. The day of his coronation (6th June) is the National Day of Sweden. In Finland we remember him as the founder of our capital Helsinki, in 1550.

The present King, Carl XVI Gustaf, was coronated in 1973. The first Swedish king belonging to the present Royal family, the House of Bernadotte, was Charles XIV John, originally an ordinary – but obviously a very talented and brave – soldier from France. Again one piece of evidence on the common European roots and, at the same time, weirdness of history. The present King who recently celebrated his 50th anniversary as the monarch has had very close ties to Finland. He treated the long-standing Finnish president as a fatherly figure and called him “uncle Kekkonen”.

The venue of the seminar also marks the close cooperation between the Finnish and Swedish Supreme Administrative Courts in general and, in particular, in organizing our presidency programme, which we have been preparing together. I wish to acknowledge the significant role of our Swedish colleagues and friends already at the outset.

A symbolic moment in the transfer of the presidency took place on June 27th this year in the Royal Palace of Capodimonte in Naples when President Luigi Maruotti handed over the ACA-Europe small dinner bell to President Helena Jäderblom and me, enabling us to call the meetings in order, if necessary. Once again, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Italian presidency – especially presidents Filippo Patroni Griffi, Franco Frattini, who tragically passed during the presidency, and Luigi Maruotti – for the leadership and dedication during the past two years. We recall this period with joy, having been able to resume in-person meetings, and having had the privilege to discuss important rule of law issues with esteemed colleagues, all the while enjoying fantastic surroundings. We were treated to thorough substantive seminar programmes, enriched by unforgettable cultural experiences underscoring our common heritage.

We acknowledge the significant legacy we have to uphold. When drafting the presidency programme, we have had our starting point in the mission of ACA-Europe. Together with the Court of Justice of the EU, the supreme administrative courts of the Member States play a crucial role in the unification and harmonization of EU law. Recalling this background, an overarching theme of the present presidency is the vertical dialogue between the supreme administrative courts and the European Courts. The emphasis will be on the procedural rather than the substantive dimension of this relationship.

The series of six events during the – I dare to say – Finnish-Swedish presidency will be commenced today with a seminar on preliminary rulings.

Ce séminaire sur les décisions préjudicielles avec un accent sur des sujets tels que l'obligation de renvoi par rapport à la "marge d'appréciation", le rôle des juridictions inférieures, suivi national des arrêts de la CJUE, qualité et clarté des arrêts de la CJUE et développement du système de renvoi préjudiciel en coopération avec la CJUE.

One could hardly come up with a more relevant topic to express the vertical dialogue between the Court of Justice of the European Union and the national supreme administrative jurisdictions. The title of the seminar is “Preliminary rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union – from CILFIT to Consorzio” – perfectly summarizes the key issue:: when is the supreme instance obliged to refer a case to Luxemburg for preliminary ruling. What is the threshold of acte claire, when has the case-law of the CJEU settled the legal question so as to be acte éclairé? And, ladies and gentlemen, we have the privilege to have President Koen Lenaerts as the keynote speaker of the seminar. Who could be better positioned to analyze the development of the CILFIT doctrine in the case-law of the Court? Mr President, dear Koen, thank you for accepting the invitation of the organizers!

It goes without saying that during the Finnish Presidency the values and modes of function of ACA-Europe will continue more or less as before. Hence, a key priority is to highlight the importance of the rule of law. One part of the rule of law is to respect the primacy of EU law in relation to domestic law. The preliminary ruling procedure is a crucial instrument for a harmonized European legal order. That said, EU is also united in diversity. Harmonization and primacy do not prevent upholding national identities. The global development regarding democracy and the rule of law is alarming. In the EU, we have to be vigilant in defending the values found in Article 2 of the EU Treaty and promote them every day in every member state. Risks of backsliding must be resisted. The case-law of the CJEU, e.g., in the cases concerning the conditionality regulation has paved the way for an effective control of assuming the obligations set forth in EU primary law. The continuous dialogue between ACA-Europe and the European Commission and other European bodies monitoring respect for the rule of law in Europe is vital. With a view to this, it is important that we work actively on promoting the dissemination of information about the work of our unique association.

Nous sommes très fiers de nous être vus confier la présidence de l'ACA-Europe. Nous mettrons tout en œuvre pour vous offrir, chers collègues, un mandat de deux ans inoubliable en vue de renforcer la coopération entre nos juridictions administratives suprêmes nationales et les juridictions européennes. Ensemble, nous construirons un État de droit européen fort.

With these words I wish all of us an interesting, thought-provoking seminar!