The European Judicial Training Network (EJTN) has arisen from the need to build a European area of education corresponding to the progressive implementation of the European judicial area. The diversity and importance of the European dimension in the training of judges has been forcing those responsible for this task in the different Member States to carry out a progressive coordination of their programmes and actions demonstrating the inadequacy of the one-off contacts and the urgency of establishing a stable industrial relations framework which encourages the creation of a common legal culture which is essential for the proper functioning of judicial cooperation mechanisms.

The EJTN includes the Judicial Schools and courts which are responsible for the training of judges in the Member States of the Union. It has the form of an international non-profit organization under Belgian law and its operations have been funded, since 2004, by the European Commission.

It is governed by a founding charter adopted in Bordeaux on 13th October 2000, revised in Copenhagen on 6th December 2002 and in Ljubljana on 23rd and 24th June 2008.

The objectives of EJTN are framed between those of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Hague Programme, the European Commission Communication on judicial deformation material of 29th June 2006, the Resolution of the European Parliament of 9th July 2008 on the role of national courts in the European judicial system and the Resolution of the Council of the European Union of 24th October 2008 on the training of legal practitioners to set as the objectives of the European Union the creation of a genuine area of freedom, security and justice, promotion of awareness of European judicial systems and strengthening of the understanding and cooperation between judges and prosecutors in the EU Member States.

Currently the Network is responsible for managing the Exchange Program for Judicial Authorities, the catalogue of training activities organised by their members and open to the participation of judges and prosecutors from other countries, as well as the development of common curricular designs on matters of European Law and joint activities regarding training and exchange of teaching experiences.