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In Strasbourg, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and all Russia gave a speech at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly autumn session. In this issue, we publish his speech wherein His Holiness outlines the Russian Orthodox Church’s vision of the past, present and future of the European continent In Moscow, on 12—13 October 2007, the 10th International Forum on constitutional justice «Constitutional Principle of a Social Welfare State and Its Application by Constitutional Courts» was held. Eminent jurists, scholars and practitioners, from Russia and other European States, made their presentations at the Forum. President of the Russian Federation Constitutional Court Valery D. Zorkin made his welcoming remarks. Judge Anatoly I. Kovler spoke on behalf of the European Court of Human Rights (his welcoming remarks are published in the journal).
In Kazan, on 29—30 October 2007, the seminar for Russian lawyers «Particular Features of Application of the European Convention of Human Rights in the Russian Federation: Right to Freedom and Personal Inviolability» was held. The seminar was organised jointly by the Council of Europe and the Russian Federation Federal Chamber of Advocates. Judge Anatoly I. Kovler of the European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe expert Dovydas Vitkauskas made their presentations before the audience of lawyers. The seminar will be helpful to Russian lawyers in their
wider use of the European Convention in their professional practice.
In Belgrade, in his presentation at the regional conference on «The Role of Supreme Courts in the Domestic Implementation of the European Convention of Human Rights» President of the European Court of Human Rights Jean-Paul Costa directed attention to the idea that the European Court repeatedly emphasised «a special nature of the Convention as a treaty of the collective securing of human rights», its status of «the instrument of maintaining European public order with a view to protect people», which entails the Court’s obligation, while interpreting the Convention, to take care
of ensuring its effectiveness. The full text of the presentation is published in this issue of the journal.
The article by the retired Registrar of the European Court of Human Rights Michele de Salvia «Protection européenne des droits de l’homme et respect du principe de subsidiarité ou la (parfois) insoutenable légèreté des Etats» is interesting and of current importance, as were all his previous publications in the journal.

We keep on publishing translations of judgments by the Grand Chamber of the European Court. In the case of Folgerø and Others v. Norway the Grand Chamber, having examined complex issues of teaching of religion to schoolchildren in the country with the established religion, concluded – by narrow majority – that in the case there was a violation of Article 2 of the Protocol No. 1 to the Convention.
There is exactly one month left before the end of 2007, which in many respects was a determinative year for the European Court: the Court underwent significant human resources change, the Court works quite intensively and in the near future, it seems, this intensity will not slacken.

Vitaly Portnov

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