EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE : FOUR NEW BULGARIAN AND ROMANIAN JUDGES IN LUXEMBOURG.

The judges sent by Bulgaria and Romania to the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the Court of First Instance will make their pledges in Luxembourg on 12 January. Bulgarian Alexander Arabadjiev and Romanian Camelia Toader will preside at the Court of Justice with the former's mandate ending on 6 October 2009 and the latter's mandate ending on 6 October 2012. Theodore Chipev (Bulgaria) and Valeriu Ciuca (Romania) will join the Court of first Instance until 31 August 2007 and 31 August 2010 respectively.

Alexander Arabadjiev until now has been one of the observer members of the European Parliament (socialist group). Born on 18 December 1949 in Blagoevgradin (South West), a town on the border of current day Macedonia he graduated in the Law Faculty of the St. Kliment of Ochrid university in Sofia. He then practised in his town of birth, first as a judge at the court of first instance (1975-1983) and then in Chambers (1983-1986). Thereafter he was nominated as judge at Bulgaria's Supreme Court, where he remained until the Constitution changed (1986-1991). He then became a judge at the Bulgarian Constitutional Court elected by the judicial body for a period of 9 years, non renewable (1991-2000) while also a member of the former European Commission on human rights in Strasbourg. He was elected to the Bulgarian national assembly in 2001 and was a participant in the European Convention for the Future of Europe (2002-03). He speaks French, English and Russian.

Camelia Toader has been a judge at the Romanian High Court of Cassation and Justice (HCCJ) since 1999 and as such has participated in the reform of the justice system. Born on 23 November 1963, she has a doctorate in law from the university of Bucharest, where she then taught, mainly private law. A lawyer registered with the Bucharest bar (1992-1997), she was the legal advisor to the Minister of Justice's European integration service (1997-1999). She...