dr. Márta Balogh found herself in a whole new professional role, but managed to pick up the pace at Eurojust. The criminal judge from the Tatabánya Regional Court travelled to the Hague in September with the EJTN long term exchange program to spend four months there.

In the THEMIS competition organized by the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), the Hungarian team has never achieved such a big success before. The trio made up of dr. Franciska Zsófia Gyuranecz, dr. Dorottya Papp and dr. Bernadett Krausz trainee judges won semi-final D in Sofia, Bulgaria, and received a special prize for the best visual performance. The team tutored by judge dr. Bálint Kovács wrote their paper on judicial ethics and professional conduct dealing with the relation between

The website of the National Office for the Judiciary (NOJ) received a special award in the government category at the Website of the Year contest.

Trust building is the central topic of the International Conference on Courts and Communication, organized annually by the National Office for the Judiciary, for the seventh occasion this year.

The witness care and victim protection programme launched by the National Office for the Judiciary aims among others at providing witnesses summoned to court hearings with comprehensive and easily understandable information, ensuring a free-from-fear atmosphere for witness and victim testimonies and improving the conditions of questionings.

National Office for the Judiciary (NOJ) has signed cooperation agreement with nine universities of Hungary. The judiciary and the universities taking part in legal education will tighten their relationships in the fields of legal education, legal dissemination and research.

The Hungarian judicial organisation pays special attention to the new generation: the training concept of 2019 includes the training of trainee judges, secretary judges and judges, however, the young generation have also the opportunity to try their hand at scientific work and get experienced in the international environment as well – emphasised dr. Judit Gyarmathy, Deputy President of the National Office for the Judiciary at the event of Consilium Peritorum.

During a five-month period 207 judges held 447 distant-hearings with the newly developed distant-hearing system. Penal institutions were the second most-used place for this purpose with 94 occasions, including 18 foreign spots.

Only the court system that does not retreat to an ivory tower but dare to take on the social role and even the cultural mission that the third branch of power has to fulfill in a state under the rule of law, can succeed - said dr. Tünde Handó at the Centenary Conference organised for the 100th anniversary of the moving of the Eperjes Evangelical Academy to Miskolc.

The Hungarian scholar of the EJTN Long Term Exchange Program takes every opportunity to increase her knowledge.

Dr. Péter Tatár-Kis was appointed by the President of the National Office for the Judiciary (NOJ) for the leadership of the Budapest-Capital Regional Court for a one-year term.

Judges’ wages will increase by more than 60% - announced Judit Varga, Minister of Justice, Árpád Répássy, vice president of the NOJ and Péter Polt, Attorney General, at a joint press conference.

The French-Hungarian Legal Day, held on 11 October 2019, focused on the European relationships, the application of EU law and its challenges faced by the national institutions, and the European – especially French – institutional solutions.