On 5 December Jean-Paul Costa, the President of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg was invited to speak to the Justice Ministers of Europe at the European Council in session looking at the Stockholm Program of the European borders, on the same day he found some time to talk to Alia Papageorgiou about new recruits to the ECHR (Russia, to be announced shortly), what he still thinks the Member States are doing wrong in terms of human rights offences and what it takes to be a good President of 47 judges.

We’re in Brussels on the day of the Lisbon Treaty coming into effect, what is this significance of this for you and the Court?
For Europe it’s a decisive step and it was not that easy. You remember a failure of the Constitutional Treaty and the hesitations of the Lisbon Treaty. So it seems to me it’s a very important date today and I am very happy to be in Brussels. It’s also very important for the constructions of legal Europe especially in the field of human rights. The Lisbon Treaty has a provision according to which the European Union shall adhere to the European Convention of Human Rights and as the President of the European Court of Human Rights I am very satisfied because this will be a way of reinforcing European protection and promotion of human rights so it’s a very important measure.

What are the signs that Russia will accede to the Court that you have mentioned today?
The positive signals come from various officials of the Russian Federation. Of course the decision has to be taken by the State Duma, the Parliament, which 3 years ago decided to adjourn the vote on the ratification. It seems that probably in the next few weeks, I hope at the beginning of the next year, the decisive step will be made by the State Duma and by the executive afterwards and that Protocol 14 will finally enter into force, because the only missing ratification is the Russian ratification.

For those who are not aware, what does this mean in effect?
This will mean first of all more efficiency for the court, the possibility of dealing with the simplest cases in a more expeditious and more effective way, and enabling the Court to concentrate more on the serious violations of human rights and more difficult applications. Politically, it is good for the Council of Europe and for the Court because it would mean kind of the end of relative isolation of the very important country, namely the Russian Federation.

You have mentioned before that the Member States are faring well but do seem to be lacking behind when it comes to their prison systems can you give us some examples?
It seems to me that in some fields, especially in the field of conditions of detention and prison, or the way in which some aliens are treated in event of the right of asylum, even the most traditional democracies, and the most respectful of rule of law countries are not always in the ideal position. And from time to time we find in the Court, in our judgments violations of some serious articles of the European Convention.  So this means that human rights is a permanent battle and we have to consider that it cannot be taken for granted forever, and our Court is useful not only for more or the most prominent countries  but for all 47 member states of the Council of Europe.

The Justice Ministers are meeting to discuss the Stockholm Program today is this plan that goes far enough for you?
The Stockholm Plan is a very important move and we were associated also. We received a request for advice from Jacques Barrot the Vice President of the Commission. During the lunch of all the Ministers of Justice of the 27 EU countries –for the first time I myself and the Registrar of the Court are invited to participate in this lunch especially to talk about consequences of the Lisbon Treaty on the accession of the EU to the European Convention of Human Rights. It’s a very important day for me, for the Court, to greet all these prospects including the Stockholm Plan.

What is a key characteristic that is necessary  for one to be the President of a Court?
I would say it’s absolutely necessary to be wise but not too wise.