ANNUAL REPORT - CEP, the European Organisation for Probation

Strategic objective:
Raise the profile of probation in Europe
Leo Tigges, Jacques Barrot and
Patrick Madigou
organisation at the highest European
level”, explains Patrick Madigou.
“Moreover, we also would like
to discuss the priorities that our
member organisations had identified
in a consultation round that we
had held in the autumn of 2008.”
In January 2009 CEP met with Mr.
Barrot and his cabinet at the Commission’s
headquarter. “Mr. Barrot
indicated that he was particularly
interested in further developing the
harmonisation of sanctions and
alternative sanctions in the EU”,
tells Patrick Madigou. “This would
be one of the guiding principles of
the EU Action plan for cooperation
on judicial matters and home affairs
in the period 2010-2014, known as
the Stockholm programme. As such
he invited CEP to give input for the
Stockholm programme.”
In September CEP sent a letter to
the Swedish Minister of Justice
Ms. Beatrice Ask, who presided the
EU Council of Ministers of Justice,
which prepared the Stockholm programme.
“We brought the priorities
of the sector of probation to her
attention. Of course we don’t know
to which extend we have managed
to put the priorities on the agenda.
However, we are very delighted
that ‘alternative sanctions’ were
explicitly mentioned twice in the
programme, and that many more
stipulations directly relate to our
contribution!”
Most of CEP’s contacts with the
EU, however, take place at the
level of policy makers at unit level.
“Please let me stress that we have
had most valuable exchanges with
EU policy makers too”, says Patrick
Madigou. “For example in 2009 the
EU has helped us to develop plans
to initiate a project to design a
single European methodology for
the collection of statistical material
on probation. It also greatly supported
us to promote EU funding
among the sector of probation in
Europe. I am sure we will see the
results of this in 2010.”
Focus: CEP Probation values and the Recommendation on Probation
of the Council of Europe, two complementary documents
In 2009 the CEP Board developed a document on the 18 values of probation work which were
adopted at the General Assembly of 2010. The CEP values are in line with the Recommendation
on Probation of the Council of Europe (CoE) which was adopted in January 2010. These values
are useful in the cooperation with the European Union and the CoE.
“The CEP values are aimed specifically
at bringing probation staff
closer to the most important principles
contained in the Council
of Europe Probation Rules on the
one hand,” explains Ilina Taneva,
Deputy Head of the Division of
Crime Problems and Secretary of
the Council for Penological Cooperation
of the CoE, which prepared
the Recommendation (PC-
CP). “On the other hand they have
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