The 1st meeting of Working Group 2 "Resolution of cross-border family conflicts" took place in Rabat on 23-24 October 2008. The issues addressed were "The Hague Convention and European Union framework: current situation. The Malta Judicial Conferences on the cross-border family conflicts". During this first meeting we shared the international experts’ opinion and the participants’ approach on this topic from their own perspective and respective competences. Through an in-depth and detailed discussion, we were informed of the current situation related to the topics under discussion, among others the practical and specific problems related to the recognition abroad of judicial decisions, and the ongoing or already completed legislative and regulatory reforms on this topic. In this way, we could identify what are the priorities and needs to be addressed through training activities and study visits. We also defined how to better focus the seminars on this component and what are the major issues and the elements to be taken into account in order to reach the objectives of this project. We also discussed the expected results related to this topic as well as the dates and venues of the activities. In addition, some recommendations on this topic were adopted and we started a debate on the final document to be delivered by the working group: the text of the Conclusions. The recommendations formulated during the 4 meetings of this Working Group will be presented during the regional Conference that will take place at the end of the Working Groups meetings in 2009. |