On Wednesday 10 September 2025, the President of the ECHR, Mattias Guyomar, began his visit to Paris, where he spoke at several events and attended the ceremonial opening of the judicial year at the Conseil d’ État - an institution where he previously served as President of the 10th Chamber of its Judicial Division before being elected as the judge in respect of France at the Court.

On 11 September, the Court President opened this year’s “Paul Tavernier Study Day”. President Guyomar’s speech centered on the preparatory works of the Convention, known as travaux préparatoires, highlighting its continued relevance.

After offering a comprehensive overview of the political and historical context surrounding the Convention’s preparatory work, President Guyomar emphasized: “It was precisely for troubled times like the ones we are experiencing today that the Convention was drafted, and the Court was established. The threats that the Founding Fathers had in mind are reemerging. This brief ‘return to the sources’ reminds us that it is also a ‘return to the future.’”

On 11 September, President Guyomar also delivered a keynote address during the National Bar Council’s Grande Rentrée event, where he emphasized that lawyers are key actors in ensuring access to justice and the full and effective realization of rights. He noted that access to a judge would indeed remain a dead letter without the support of lawyers. In his speech, the Court President also welcomed the opening for signature in May this year of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer - the first-ever international treaty aimed at protecting the profession of lawyer.

During his mission to Paris, President Guyomar delivered inaugural lectures to students at Sciences Po Paris on 11 September, on the topic Judges, Rule of Law, and Democracy, and to students of the Master’s in Human Rights and International Justice at Paris II Panthéon-Assas University on 12 September, on The New Frontiers of Human Rights. He concluded his visit on 12 September by attending the graduation ceremony of the Master’s in European Law at the University of Paris Nanterre.