Vienna: 4th European Jurists' Forum

"The conference takes place at the Hofburg Congress Centre from Thursday, 3 May 2007, to Saturday, 5 May 2007"

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The 4th European Jurists' Forum not only brings together numerous jurists for an exchange of ideas and experience, but also focuses attention on three most appropriate topics.

The choice of topics underlines the contemporary and active role of the Jurists' Forum in our legal culture and in the context of society as a whole. The international component of the Jurists' Forum is a major aspect of any legal and political development. It is essential for the leading thinkers in society to exemplify and explain this development.

Our body of law constitutes the most important basis for a well-ordered framework of human society – in Austria, in Europe, and in the rest of the world.

Legal certainty is one of the essential keys to stability, social peace and justice.

The topics on the agenda of the European Jurists' Forum all serve the purpose of safeguarding security, and that is one of the most noble tasks to be fulfilled by a functioning judicial system: providing a basis for confidence and security in the fabric of society.

This is the kind of security which does not attract a great deal of public attention, it does not make headlines, but fortunately it is always there.

Since its inception, the Jurists' Forum has been committed to ensuring that by virtue of a functioning and flourishing legal culture, these basic elements of society constitute a sound foundation for democracy and the rule of law. As a citizen and a democrat, but also in my capacity as a jurist and as Federal Minister of Justice, I should like to thank its initiators and organisers for their essential contributions.

Maga. Karin Gastinger

Federal Minister of Justice
of the Republic of Austria