The Council of Europe plays a special role in promoting democracy, the rule of law and the protection of human rights. The events of recent years, and especially Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, have significantly changed the conditions for the implementation of the Council of Europe’s mission. The author analyzed, based on the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 2473 (2022) “Strengthening the role of the Council of Europe as a cornestone of the European political architecture”, the activities of the Council of Europe aimed at seeking its role in the emerging new political architecture of Europe. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine may create conditions for a new look at the opportunities offered by the Council of Europe for European development and create a climate for intensifying forms of cooperation between European international organizations in the event of new threats to European development.

The material independence of judges is one of the essential guarantees of their independence and, at the same time, the proper functioning of the judiciary. Of course, one should not conclude from this that there is a simple relationship between independence and the material status of judges, nor should one presume a general prohibition on reducing judicial salaries. Undoubtedly, however, commensurate remuneration is permanently linked to the question of judicial independence. The aim of this article is to analyze premises of the permissibility of “freezing” adjustment of judges’ salaries in the light of international legal standards. The article is based on a specific factual situation, as in 2023, that basic salary adjustment for judges of common courts in Poland was “frozen” for the third year in a row.

The main purpose of the article is to examine the opinions expressed by Georgian elites regarding the position of the Federal Republic of Germany towards Georgia in 2023. The text discusses the question to what extent the image created for the needs of the internal political game in Georgia corresponds to bilateral relations between the two countries. The re-evaluation of German Eastern policy in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict influences Germany’s attitude towards Georgia. Georgia is at a special historical moment. The receding prospect of Georgia’s EU membership due to the rule of law and respect for civil liberties shortcomings affects also the perception of Germany in Caucasus. The future of Georgia and the shape of relations with the West, including Germany, will depend primarily on the behavior of Georgian elites, some of whom treat accession to the EU as an element of a political game.

The Permissibility of Ex Lege Termination of the Term of Office of the Judicial Members of the National Council of the Judiciary in its Composition Resulting from the Act of 8 December 2017, in the Light of the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights

The article analyzes the permissibility of terminating the terms of office of current members of the National Judiciary Council without providing them with access to court from the perspective of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. The starting point is the judgment of the ECtHR in the case of Grzęda v. Poland, in which it was found that the ex lege termination of the terms of office of the NCJ members in 2018 violated Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the interpretation of the ECHR cannot disregard the specific context related to the lack of independence of the current NCJ and its negative impact on the integrity of the judicial appointment process. These circumstances justify the conclusion that Art. 6 ECHR would not protect the current members of the NCJ from the termination of their terms of office.

In recent years, the European Union (“EU”) has faced unprecedented challenges in the rule of law. Besides apparent dangers, it has also offered the Union, its institutions and member states important space for new openings, self-rediscovery, and revisiting certain integration paradigms. This analysis argues that the “rule of law/value crisis” in the EU has created the same space for the Court of Justice to take on the paradigmatic jurisprudential shift from the market to the union of law and values. It posits that the European discourse must revisit the theory of supranational adjudication and offer a new reading of the Court’s mandate and function within the evolving supranational governance and design. In this process, reference to Art. 19 TEU and its connection to Art. 2 TEU have a special explicatory and axiological significance.