Avi Schneebalg, Vice President of GEMME, represented the Group at the EJTN General Assembly 2023 in Stockholm on 15-16 June and a few days later at the Greek School of Magistrates in Thessaloniki.
Avi Schneebalg, who retired a few months ago from the Belgian judiciary but is still hyperactive, represented GEMME at EJTN's 2023 General Assembly, which brought together 150 delegates to debate and decide on the network's future.
At the Stockholm meeting, the retired magistrate lobbied hard for mediation training at all levels and contacted judges in countries that do not yet have a national section in GEMME with a view to setting one up.
The 2023 meeting was interesting and intense. Topical issues were discussed, such as a new working group on digitisation; the Information of EJTN members, associate members, observers and partners; a constructive dialogue with the main actors of judicial training; and a briefing on the current situation of judicial training in Ukraine.
The chronicle is available on the EJTN website.
A few days later, Avi Schneebalg represented GEMME at the conciliation and mediation training course organised by the Greek School of Magistrates at its premises in Thessaloniki in collaboration with EJTN. He gave the final lesson, which was very well received by the sixty or so participants, and also, as in Stockholm, worked for the creation of new national sections and invited judges to join their national section in countries where it already existed.
These were undoubtedly excellent opportunities to raise awareness of the European Group of Magistrates for Mediation (GEMME) and to promote mediation as a preferred method of conflict resolution in the judicial sphere.
