Representatives of the highest level of the legal and institutional world met at the Madrid Notary Association to discuss Europe, legal security and the role of institutions in a context in which technology, cooperation and the protection of rights can no longer be treated as separate issues. The day provided a very clear snapshot of the moment: the ELI as a meeting place, the notariat as a guarantor of trust, and the administrations as key players in a dynamic legal agenda.
THE MEETING WAS PART COMMEMORATION AND PART WARNING: EUROPEAN LAW NEEDS BRIDGES, BUT IT ALSO NEEDS TO STAND FIRM
The meeting was part commemoration and part warning: European law needs bridges, but it also needs to stand firm in a time of rapid change and fragile certainties.
Bridges between systems
The president of the General Council of Notaries (CGN), Concepción Pilar Barrio Del Olmo, told those present that “European law needs institutions that build bridges between different legal traditions, between the academic world and professional practice, between innovation and the protection of rights“, adding that the European Law Institute carries out this work “with rigour, excellence and a forward-looking vision‘.
The president of the CGN placed the debate in a time of legal, economic, social, technological, and geopolitical transformations that demand more sophisticated and cohesive responses. She defended the role of the Notary as a public institution serving preventive legal security, with the ability to verify identities and legal capacities, including in digital media, and recalled that “‘this preventive control must be combined with the fight against money laundering, an area in which the Notary provides concrete tools through its Centralized Prevention Body and the databases of beneficial owners and public officials“.
PARTICIPANTS IN THE EVENT SHARED THE MESSAGE OF STRENGTHENING LEGAL INSTITUTIONS IN A EUROPE THAT NEEDS MORE COORDINATION AND TRUST
Regulatory convergence
The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, opened the day with a speech that was clearly pro-European, but also reformist, by defending “the importance of comparative analysis of law as a tool for modernizing national legal systems” and called for the Spanish model of criminal investigation to be brought closer to the majority standards in Europe, advocating regulatory convergence as a way to strengthen institutions and improve the response of the legal system.
Bolaños said it was an honour for him to «participate in these events commemorating the 15th anniversary of the creation of the ELI, and to do so in this setting of the General Council of Notaries and the Madrid Notary Association, where the importance and the long-standing tradition of the Notariat in our country are truly evident».
In his opinion, “ELI has become an international institution that is a benchmark in the study of European law, from the perspective of both regulations and case law. It does not only aspire to theoretical, doctrinal or academic knowledge, but also, and more importantly for Public Administrations, to improve the European legal system through proposals and recommendations to legislators and governments».
The minister also emphasised the convergence of European legal systems based on ”common values such as democracy, the separation of powers and the protection of citizens’ rights”, adding a warning that gave political weight to the day: these values, he said, are not irreversible. Bolaños linked this diagnosis to Spain’s role in European initiatives on minors in digital environments, platform responsibility, and the fight against illegal content and digital manipulation.
FÉLIX BOLAÑOS DEFENDED «THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPARATIVE LEGAL ANALYSIS AS A TOOL FOR MODERNIZING NATIONAL LEGAL SYSTEMS»
Place of cooperation
For her part, the president of the ELI, Professor Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras from Carlos III University of Madrid, defined the raison d’être of the institute: to act as a place of cooperation between academia, professional practice and institutions in one field: European law, where comparison and coordination are already part of everyday work. She positioned the programme as ”a meeting designed to reflect on the role of the ELI in articulating common responses to new legal challenges”..
With her help, we discovered the activity and impact it has had in the European legal sphere over the last 15 years, in a roundtable discussion in which she participated alongside ELI Vice-Presidents Geoffrey Vos and Pietro Sirena.
Vos noted that ”ELI brings together educational institutions, the technology sector, the academic world, and international experts who work to address the major legal challenges of our time”. He referred specifically to technological challenges and the emergence of artificial intelligence: «When we work in the technological sphere, collaboration between legal and academic operators from across Europe, it is essential to protect the rule of law and preserve our democracies. Therefore, I look forward to the next fifty years of this organization and the work it will continue to do». For his part, Pietro Sirena pointed out that «the future development of European law does not depend so much on the production of new instruments or regulations, but on the development of a common legal culture, education and practice». In addition, he emphasized that «a genuinely European law can only emerge if European jurists develop a shared sense of community; a community in which different legal styles, languages, and systems remain diverse, but are understood as expressions of a shared history and a common legal culture».
CONCEPCIÓN BARRIO POINTED OUT THAT «EUROPEAN LAW NEEDS INSTITUTIONS THAT BUILD BRIDGES BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT LEGAL TRADITIONS»
Under the moderation of Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras, we heard the perspectives of four founding members of the ELI on the development, evolution, and future of the institution: Marc Schmitz, president of the International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ); Leo Netten, honorary president of the UIHJ; Noemí Alarcón, vice-president of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) and Annerie Ploumen, vice-president of the Council of Notaries of the European Union (CNUE).
In their speeches, they reviewed the achievements of the Institute and highlighted the important role of ELI in the construction of European law, as well as the need to continue collaborating between institutions to strengthen the rule of law in the European Union and the importance of professional cooperation to address the challenges posed by digitalization.
TERESA RODRÍGUEZ DE LAS HERAS DEFINED THE DAY AS “A MEETING TO REFLECT ON THE ARTICULATION OF COMMON RESPONSES TO NEW LEGAL CHALLENGES”
Notaries in the Digital Age
In her final speech, Concepción Pilar Barrio Del Olmo insisted that “the notarial function is prepared to continue performing effective preventive control in a digital environment, where the verification of identity and legal capacity is becoming increasingly delicate”. The idea is not insignificant: in an increasingly automated legal ecosystem, the value of notarial intervention is precisely measured by its ability to provide security before a conflict arises.
This was added to the reference to the Public Integrity Bill, on which the president of the General Council of Notaries expressed “concern about the lack of clarity surrounding the role of the notarial deed”; she recalled that “that not every reform improves the institutional architecture on its own”. Barrio Del Olmo concluded his speech with an appeal for cooperation from the Ministry of Justice, particularly in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. In conclusion: preventive control cannot be sacrificed in the name of modernization.
Preventive control
The last round table of the day, moderated by notary Gonzalo Cano, featured José Carmelo Llopis, dean of the Valencia Notarial Association and CGN delegate for Europe; Juan Gómez-Riesco, notary member of the International Section of the CGN, and Marcos Ruiz, Business and Operations Director of the Notarial Technology Centre.
José Carmelo Llopis pointed out that the European Union is moving towards a model in which ”trust is placed in the primary source of the data or attribute”, and if we want reliable attributes, “we must maintain authenticity at the source of the data”. In this regard, he emphasised that ”the Notary not only meets the requirements of European law to be considered an authentic source, but also, due to its own institutional and regulatory structure, is the paradigm of this definition. Doing away with the Notary as an authentic source would mean weakening the reliability of the system”.
Juan Gómez-Riesco addressed the regulatory changes brought about by EU Regulation 28, which proposes the creation of a new type of company. The notary highlighted the issues and doubts that it raises, among other things, the legal basis used, as well as «the need to strengthen and include additional preventive control measures that guarantee maximum legal certainty and effective prevention of money laundering, from the incorporation of the company, to its amendments, transfer of shares, dissolution and liquidation».
Marcos Ruiz explained the regulatory framework and the functioning of the digital identity wallets that the EU is preparing for citizens and businesses. “In the business world, it is not enough to identify the person or company: representation, powers, validity and legal effects must also be proven. The Business Wallet does not replace authentic sources: it needs them for the attribute to have legal value”, he pointed out. In the same vein, he explained that these technologies “channel the action, but it is really the authentic sources of information that provide legal validity to the operations. Automation should not mean losing controls that provide traceability, risk analysis, and prevention, such as notarial intervention».
Participants in the event shared the message of strengthening legal institutions in a Europe that needs more coordination, trust, and responsiveness. The minister spoke of convergence; the Notariat, of bridges and preventive control; the ELI, of cooperation and the improvement of law. It was not a sum of parallel speeches, but a convergence of diagnoses about the present moment.
ELI celebrated its 15th anniversary with a clear idea: European law will only be strong if it continues to be able to build bridges between tradition and innovation, between practice and theory, between security and change, in short, a call to continue building trust.
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