15^th anniversary of the European Notarial Network – Brussels, 9 March 2023

–

On 9 March 2023, CNUE member notariats and the interlocutors of the European Notarial Network (ENN – www.enn-rne.eu) met in Brussels to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the ENN. A conference was planned to take stock of the progress made over the years, to assess the common achievements and, above all, to consider the challenges ahead. Two panel discussions were organised: one dedicated to the CNUE working groups on the topic of “Digitalisation in EU legislation in civil and commercial matters”, the other specifically on the ENN with the participation of national interlocutors and Ms Marie Vautravers, Secretary of the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters.

Dr. Peter Stelmaszczyk, President of the CNUE, and Mr. Giovanni Liotta, ENN Coordinator, started the conference. They outlined the history of the ENN and stressed the importance of the European Commission’s continued support. The ENN now has a modern online platform accessible to all notaries in Europe. More than 2,200 notaries from 22 countries use the ENN on a daily basis and benefit from the many practical tools at their disposal: practical guides on the European regulations on international successions, the circulation of public documents, matrimonial property regimes and registered partnerships. Not to mention the numerous legal databases, multilingual forms and the videoconferencing system.

Access to information on Member States’ legislation has also always been one of the ENN’s priorities. With this in mind, the ENN was directly involved in the creation of the public information websites “Successions Europe”, “Couples in Europe”, “The Vulnerable in Europe” and “Authentic instruments in Europe”. These websites have been very successful, attracting several million visits, as Mr Giovanni Liotta pointed out.

But the strength of the ENN is also its ability to react and adapt, stressed Dr. Peter Stelmaszczyk. The year 2022 and the war in Ukraine demonstrated this. Over the past year, the ENN has created an entire section dedicated to practical and useful legal information and tools to answer questions about Ukrainian law and Ukrainian refugees in Europe. This section includes, among others, an FAQ section on Ukrainian matrimonial law, the provision of information on EU sanctions against Russia, a multilingual form for parents to express their wishes regarding the travel of their child leaving Ukraine and the exercise of parental responsibility. Finally, the creation of a practical handbook containing the most useful information on Ukrainian law was another tangible result.

In 2023, Ukraine will still be at the very heart of the work of the CNUE and the ENN according to Dr. Peter Stelmaszczyk: “The Ukrainian crisis is one of the main political priorities of my 2023 Presidency. We have seen that there is great political will within the EU institutions, our national governments and international organisations to do what is right for Ukraine. We now need to work with policy makers on a Marshall Plan for Ukrainian notaries.”

Finally, Mr. Dirk Staudenmayer, Acting Director for Civil and Commercial Justice of the European Commission, closed the conference. He thanked the CNUE for the support given to Ukrainian citizens and notaries, as well as for the preparatory work in view of the publication on 29 March of a legislative proposal on digital company law and, at the end of May, on the protection of vulnerable adults.

Pictures of the conference (© CNUE)

Commemorative brochure on the 15^th anniversary of the ENN