CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 14 avril 2008

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .sE56A51D4 { margin-top:14pt; margin-bottom:14pt; text-align:center } .sA1D3DA2E { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sADADF4A7 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   268 14.4.2008   Press release issued by the Registrar Visit to the Court of the President of Slovakia President Costa has received a visit from President Ivan Gašparovic of Slovakia, accompanied, in particular, by Mr Ján Kubiš, the Slovakian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Committee of Ministers.   President Costa, after recalling how he had been touched by the warm welcome he had received during his official visit to Slovakia (2 to 4 April 2008), when he had had contacts with the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and Slovakian political authorities, spoke of the excellent relations between Slovakia and the European Court of Human Rights.   President Gašparovic welcomed the opportunity to meet President Costa after not being able to receive him in Bratislava, as he had been otherwise engaged abroad. He described the situation of the Slovakian judicial system, which was undergoing reform. He was aware of the fact that one of the main issues in his country was the need to reduce the length of court proceedings, which was often excessive.   President Costa considered that a number of avenues could be explored: the new possibility for the Constitutional Court to grant compensation to those affected by lengthy proceedings, the prioritising of the most complex cases, and an increase in the number of judges.   President Costa also referred to the difficulties currently facing the Court in Strasbourg, in particular the fact that Protocol No. 14, which would bring about an increase in efficiency, had not come into force. The President indicated that one of the responses to the significant number of applications lodged with the Court was to ensure the proper application of the Convention by domestic courts, and he considered that his visit to Slovakia had been important for that reason. It was very useful to make the legislature and judiciary aware of the Court’s existence and to show them that subsidiarity could help to reduce the actual or potential number of applications arriving in Strasbourg.   ***   Further information about the Court can be found on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).   Press contacts Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Paramy Chanthalangsy (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 91) Sania Ivedi (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 59 45)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.