Luxembourg notary Cosita Delvaux elected CNUE President for 2025

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On 13 December, the General Assembly of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) took place in Brussels, marking a significant milestone for the organisation. For the first time in the history of the CNUE, a woman has been elected president: Luxembourg notary Cosita Delvaux was unanimously chosen to lead the CNUE in 2025.

A Look Back at the 2024 Presidency

During the General Assembly, outgoing CNUE President Marius Stračkaitis presented the achievements of his term. Under his leadership, the CNUE focused its efforts on three key priorities:

• Strengthening the notarial profession in Europe: enhancing the recognition of notaries’ role within European legal systems.
• Accelerating the digitalisation of notarial activities: this year, the CNUE organised two new editions of its Futurology Forum, focusing on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Work is also underway to develop AI guidelines for notaries.
• Supporting the Ukrainian notariat: providing material assistance to notaries and their families affected by the war and organising a conference last September in Vilnius. This event brought together representatives from top political institutions, experts, and notaries from across Europe to discuss strengthening the rule of law and the role of the notariat.

This landmark year unfolded against a significant political backdrop, with the European elections in June 2024 and the appointment of a new European Commissioner for Justice, Michael McGrath. The CNUE actively engaged in the electoral campaign with the publication of its manifesto for European policymakers.

Priorities for 2025: An Ambitious Agenda

In her inaugural speech, Cosita Delvaux outlined the main objectives for her mandate, with a particular focus on:

• Crossborder protection of adults: a crucial issue as a legislative package on the matter is currently under discussion.
• Cybersecurity: addressing the growing challenges posed by digital technologies.
• The 10th anniversary of the European Regulation on International Successions: an opportunity to reaffirm the central role of notaries in supporting European citizens.

Alongside Cosita Delvaux, Roland Wadge, President of the Maltese Notariat, was elected Vice-President.

Renewed Support for Ukraine

Finally, the General Assembly also decided to renew its financial support for the charitable foundation of the Ukrainian notariat. This initiative reflects the enduring solidarity of Europe’s notariats with their Ukrainian counterparts during these extraordinary times.

Concepción Barrio elected President of the Spanish Notariat

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On 30 November 2024, the Dean of the Madrid Notarial Association, Concepción Pilar Barrio del Olmo, was elected President of the Spanish General Council of Notaries for the next four years. Barrio thus becomes the first woman to hold this position and now represents, at both national and international levels, nearly 3,000 Spanish practising notaries. She succeeds José Ángel Martínez Sanchiz, who has led the organisation for the past eight years.

The new President has identified her main objective as “the maintenance of our system of legal certainty, with all its values and duties, because it benefits the society we serve. We notaries must continue to ensure that whoever buys a house does not end up in court; that people’s last wishes, expressed in their wills, are respected; and that no one questions the type of marriage we have chosen or the company we have founded.”

The main social challenges that notaries can help address include “helping to solve issues such as unwanted loneliness, access to housing, or legal support for the most vulnerable groups. At the same time, we must continue the process of digitalisation to provide a more efficient notarial service without compromising our relationship with citizens. We will continue to offer the network of notaries’ offices spread throughout Spain, even in small towns.”

She also highlights her responsibility to women in assuming this position, saying, “It is important that other women, especially young women, see that they can be a dean or chairperson of an institution like this or of a company; that they have no limits. When I passed the competitive examination, women made up 30 per cent, but recently, it has reached 60 per cent,” she concludes.

Concepción Pilar Barrio del Olmo has been a notary since 1997. She has extensive corporate experience, both in the Madrid Notarial Association, where she has held the position of Archivist since 2007 and has served in various roles before being elected Dean, and in the General Council of Notaries, where she served as Secretary General from 2011 to 2013. She is also a trustee and Deputy Chairperson of the SIGNUM Notarial Foundation and a member of the Notary, Women and Society Commission of the Notarial Foundation. Additionally, she is the author of several legal publications and a regular speaker at courses and seminars.

Michael McGrath is the new EU Commissioner for Justice

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On 27 November, the European Parliament voted in favor of the new College of Commissioners, proposed by President Ursula von der Leyen, for a second term at the head of the European Commission. A majority of votes cast was required to confirm the College, which obtained the following results: 370 votes in favor, 282 votes against, 36 abstentions. The new Commission took office on 1 December 2024.

Former Irish Finance Minister Michael McGrath has therefore been confirmed as the new EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law. His mission letter is available online.

Conference on Ukraine – Vilnius, 13 September 2024

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On 13 September, the CNUE organised a conference in Vilnius on “Strenghtening the Rule of Law and the Notariat : Insights from European Union Members and Ukraine”. This conference was held at the initiative of the Lithuanian Presidency of the CNUE, which wanted to highlight the tremendous challenges faced by Ukraine since the start of the war, particularly in terms of guaranteeing the rule of law and an effective justice system. With this in mind, representatives of Lithuanian, Ukrainian and European institutions took the floor, moderated by CNUE President Marius Stračkaitis.

In his opening speech, President Marius Stračkaitis highlighted the essential elements of a strong notarial profession, such as the status of the notary as a member of the legal profession, high standards of professional ethics, the highest legal qualification, self-regulation and the use of digital processes.

Ewelina Dobrowolska, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, and Vice-minister of Justice, Gabija Grigaite Daugirde, recalled that the rule of law is a fundamental value of the EU. They emphasized that the independence and impartiality of the notarial profession is a cornerstone of the rule of law. Dainius Žalimas, Member of the European Parliament, also concurred with these remarks, adding that the functions entrusted to notaries by the State require them to be independent guardians of the rule of law.

Yevhen Horovets, First Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, and Danguolė Bublienė, President of the Supreme Court of Lithuania, underlined the role played by notaries as guardians of legal certainty in the service of the State. Ukrainian notaries continue to play this role fully under very difficult conditions, with the constant threat of bombings and recurring electricity shortages.

Anna Jarosz-Friis, Director of Ukraine Service, DG NEAR, European Commission, welcomed the unwavering support of the European notariat in welcoming the Ukrainian notariat into its ranks and accompanying the country on its path towards integration into the EU. She acknowledged the reforms underway and the progress made, particularly with regard to the rule of law.

Volodymyr Marchenko, President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Notaries, highlighted the reforms undertaken to bring the notarial profession into line with European standards, particularly with regard to the dematerialisation of registers. He thanked the CNUE for its unstinting and asked for its help in Ukraine’s integration into the EU. In response, Jens Bormann, President of Bundesnotarkammer, outlined the support that could be provided as soon as hostilities cease: material support to rebuild and equip notarial offices, financial support for notaries and their staff, and legal support to develop the legal framework towards the use of digital tools, such as electronic archiving, while ensuring legal certainty.

Nicolas de Baudus de Fransures, Chairman of the Europe Commission of the French notariat, presented the tools developed in his country to prepare the notariat of the future and meet the needs of clients: the authentic instrument on an electronic medium, the use and risks of AI, the challenges of digital sovereignty, the use of registers and the opportunities offered by data.

Copyright photos Eduardas Bareika

The CNUE welcomes three new observer members to its ranks

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On 12 June in Vilnius, CNUE member and observer notariats met for their plenary General Assembly. This date marked a milestone in the history of the organisation. At the start of the proceedings, an official ceremony was held to celebrate the addition of three new observer members to the ranks of the CNUE: the notariats of Albania, Georgia and Moldova.

High-level representatives from the notarial and political institutions of these countries took part in the event, highlighting the importance of this decision, which brings these notariats closer to their European counterparts and symbolises a further step on their path towards European integration.

The Lithuanian Minister of Justice, Ewelina Dobrowolska, stressed that the CNUE offers its observer members a network of experts for the exchange of best practices, as well as an interface for dialogue with the European institutions and a valuable source of information for European citizens. She also urged the CNUE to continue providing support to Ukraine and its notariat.

The President of the UINL, Lionel Galliez, the First Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia, Tamar Tkeshelachvili, and the Ministers of Justice of Albania, Ulsi Manja, and Moldova, Veronica Michailov-Moraru, also expressed their appreciation of this further step towards European integration, which is the outcome of a process of consolidation and cooperation between the notariats of these countries, their national institutions and the European notariats.

At the General Assembly, the President of the Ukrainian notariat, Volodymyr Marchenko, thanked the European notariat for its support since the beginning of the war. He described how the support provided by the CNUE was used in practical terms on the ground, for notaries and their families. The President of the CNUE, Marius Stračkaitis, reminded participants that a conference would be organised on 13 September in Vilnius under the sponsorship of the Lithuanian Minister of Justice on the topic of “Strengthening the Rule of Law and the Notariat: Insights from the European Union Members and Ukraine”. The conference will be devoted to the strengthening of the notarial profession and the improvement of cooperation, with the participation of CNUE members and observer countries, as well as representatives of European, Ukrainian and Lithuanian institutions.

Finally, the participants discussed the results of the European elections and the institutional deadlines that will follow, in particular the appointments to the highest European posts – Presidency of the Commission, Presidency of the European Council and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs.

Copyright photos Eduardas Bareika

The Belgian register of European Certificates of Succession is now interconnected

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From 27 May 2024, the Belgian register of European Certificates of Succession (ECS) will be able to query and be queried by the French, Luxembourg, and Dutch registers, which are already interconnected by the European Network of Registers of Wills (ENRW).

The interconnection of ECS registers facilitates the implementation of European Regulation 650/2012 on cross-border successions, which has been in force in 25 EU Member States since 17 August 2015. The Regulation introduced the ECS to make life easier for heirs and legatees in their cross-border transactions. The purpose of this European instrument is to establish the qualities of the persons called upon to participate in the liquidation of a succession (Article 63 of the Regulation).

The regulation also requires signatory states to keep information relating to ECSs. Each Member State has defined a jurisdiction and a competent authority for the purposes of issuing the ECS (article 78(c)) and the procedures for recording and storing ECS. In November 2023, the CNUE recommended that the EU should consider requiring Member States to create a public register to record ECSs and to interconnect it via the ENRW (Report on the application of the European Regulation, Recommendation #15).

More information on www.arert.eu

ENN seminar and meeting – Brussels, 25-26 April 2024

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On 25 April, particularly fruitful exchanges took place at the international seminar organised by the CNUE and the Conseil International du Notariat Belge. The theme of the event was “The cross-border protection of vulnerable adults”, and was part of the European Notarial Network’s annual programme of activities, supported by the European Commission.

In his introduction, Anthony Leleu, President of the Belgian National Chamber, outlined the social and legal issues raised by this topic. Belgian notary Lisbeth Michielsens then gave a comprehensive overview of the tools available to notaries to help them process their cross-border cases: the European Directory of Notaries, information websites, the e-Justice Portal and, of course, the ENN platform (www.enn-rne.eu), etc.

Lenka Vysoka, Policy Officer at the European Commission, spoke about the legislative package published by the European Commission in May 2023. It includes a proposal for a Council Decision requiring all Member States to be party to the Hague Convention of 13 January 2000 on the Protection of Adults and a proposal for a Regulation aimed at facilitating both the determination of the competent courts in the Member States and of the applicable law, as well as the recognition and enforcement of protection measures taken in another Member State.

Her speech was followed by a panel discussion, the aim of which was to provide an overview of the national situations regarding judicial and extra-judicial protection measures in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. These exchanges were a prelude to work carried out in small groups of participants, which enabled a better understanding of the national frameworks of the various Member States.

The following day, the ENN’s national interlocutors held their first annual meeting. On the agenda were the establishment of a framework for cooperation with the European Judicial Network, access for Serbian notaries to the ENN’s online platform, and in-depth discussions on the tools and functionalities made available on the platform.

34th Conference of European Civil-Law Notaries – Salzburg, 18-19 April 2024

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The 34th Conference of European Civil-Law Notaries, organised by the Austrian Chamber of Notaries, was held in Salzburg on 18 and 19 April. High-level speakers from the European Commission, the European Parliament and leading international experts offered their contributions and insights to the 200 participants about the following topic: “Europe’s Digital Decade – Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation” .

The CNUE President, Marius Stračkaitis, opened the conference and addressed the pressing matter of artificial intelligence. He mentioned its current use by several European notariats, while reiterating the need for the ultimate decision-making power to remain in the hands of the notaries themselves, which guarantees the preservation of legal certainty.

Artificial intelligence was also at the heart of the discussions of the first panel, entitled “Artificial intelligence: The authenticity factor and the rule of law against the backdrop of growing disinformation”, featuring Renate Nikolay Deputy Director-General for Communications, Networks Content & Technology at the European Commission, Karel Lannoo Chief Executive Office at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and Lukas Mandl Member of the European Parliament.

In the afternoon, a second panel was devoted to the European Commission’s flagship Digital Decade initiative, which sets ambitious targets for 2030 to ensure Europe’s digital leadership. In addition, a final panel aimed to discuss how these developments affect the European Union’s justice policy when it comes to being relevant to citizens in the context of the digitalisation of judicial cooperation and, in particular, the current initiative on inclusion in the protection of adults. Marie Vautravers, Secretary of the European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters, European Commission, and Evelyn Regner, Vice-President of the European Parliament, contributed to the discussions.

CNUE General Assembly – Brussels, 15 March 2024

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The CNUE held its first General Assembly of 2024 today. Under the presidency of Marius STRAČKAITIS, the meeting opened with a tribute to Giancarlo LAURINI, honorary president of UINL, CNUE and the Italian notariat, who passed away recently.

This General Assembly was also the first to be attended by Vincent TILMAN, the new Secretary General of the CNUE, who took up his duties at the beginning of March. He took the opportunity to present his work priorities and his vision for the organisation over the coming months.

Among the items on the agenda, the participants discussed the legislative package currently under discussion on the cross-border protection of adults. Negotiations should be concluded after the elections, under the Polish Presidency of the Council. The General Assembly also welcomed the positive outcome of the negotiations on the anti-money laundering package and the digitalisation of company law.

The General Assembly also gave the go-ahead for the Georgian notariat to become an observer member of the CNUE. An official ceremony will be held on 12 June at the plenary General Assembly in Vilnius. The notariats of Albania and Moldova, which became observer members last December, will also take part.

In the afternoon, the CNUE welcomed a distinguished guest in the person of Philipp SCHULMEISTER, Director for Campaigns at the European Parliament. Mr SCHULMEISTER came to present the #UseYourVote campaign launched by the Parliament with a view to the European elections to be held from 6 to 9 June 2024 (https://elections.europa.eu). The CNUE has agreed to become an institutional partner of this campaign and to help raise awareness among European citizens of the importance of voting.

CNUE Annual Report 2023

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The CNUE has just published its annual report for the year 2023. You will find all the highlights of the past year for the European notariat.              

The annual report is available in English and French.

News CNUE, 2 February 2024

European elections 2024: the proposals of the Notaries of Europe

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Launch of the new training programme EL@N II

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The Kick-off meeting of the EU co-funded project EL@N II successfully unfolded on 12 January in Vilnius, following the Handover of Powers ceremony on 11 January, and marking a first significant milestone of the CNUE Lithuanian Presidency.

Under the chairmanship of Mr. Marc Wilmus, Chair of the CNUE Training Working Group, and with the active participation of representatives from all consortium partners, the kick-off meeting provided a platform to discuss and plan the deployment of activities across five key training modules important for European notaries.

The meeting featured presentations by leaders from different Working Groups, outlining plans for constructing modules on Successions Law, AML, Cross-border enforcement of Authentic Acts, English for Notaries, and Strengthening gender equality in the notarial practice. The training material will progressively be made available to notaries connecting on the CNUE eLearning platform, accessible through the ENN website. Furthermore, EL@N II will allow notaries to get trained, to meet and to exchange views and opinions through a series of seminars and webinars.

This collaborative event allowed partners to share ideas and thoughts on the prospective modules, fostering a collective agreement on roles, tasks, and timelines for the delivery of the project’s outputs. The consortium looks forward to a dynamic and impactful implementation of its initiatives, propelling EL@N II towards its goals of innovation and progress in notarial practices.

The newly started EL@N II project, a new CNUE coordinated initiative on training co-funded by the EU, will last two years and will count on the cooperative work of national notariats from Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain, as well as the UINL and the ENRWA. France will support the project as an associated partner.

Marius Stračkaitis is the new President of the CNUE

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At the handover ceremony held in Vilnius on Thursday 11 January, Lithuanian notary Marius Stračkaitis became the new president of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) for 2024. He takes over from German notary Dr. Peter Stelmaszczyk and now represents the 22 notariats of the European Union and 50 000 notaries in Europe.

With the participation of high-level figures, such as the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, Ewelina Dobrowolska, the Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Parliament, Irena Haase, and the President of the Union Internationale du Notariat (UINL), Lionel Galliez, President Marius Stračkaitis outlined the priorities of his work programme for the coming months, in the context of the European elections to be held in June.

During his term of office, President Stračkaitis intends to structure his actions around the following three areas:

• Strengthening of the notarial function in Europe. Notaries contribute to the provision of non-contentious justice, which helps to avoid costly disputes. For this reason, the Lithuanian Presidency of the CNUE intends to focus on sharing experience between notariats and will promote the use of preventive justice procedures in the adoption of future EU legislation.
  
• Digitalisation of notaries’ activities. Important files are being adopted by the European institutions and will have an impact on the activities of notaries: creation of a European Digital Identity Wallet, Artificial Intelligence Act, extension and improvement of the use of digital tools and processes in company law, etc. In this context, the CNUE is positioning itself as a promoter of the principle of legal certainty by default. It considers it essential that the development of digital solutions in a cross-border context does not undermine legal certainty and works with the European institutions in this direction.
• Support to Ukraine and the Ukrainian notariat. Throughout 2022 and 2023, the CNUE has been committed with Ukrainian citizens and notaries. This institutional, material and legal support will continue and intensify in 2024, focusing not only on the ongoing reform and digitalisation of the notarial system, but also on the extension of assistance provided to notaries and their families affected by the war. A conference will be organised in Vilnius on 13 September 2024 and will serve as a platform for discussions on future cooperation between the CNUE, the Ukrainian notariat and the Ukrainian and European institutions.

More information regarding the presidency of the CNUE is available here.

Copyright photos Martynas Ambrazas

News CNUE, 9 January 2024

Council of Europe – Publication of the specific study on notaries

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