Brussels, 25/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 24 July, the General Affairs Council adopted, without discussion, the regulation amending the protocol on the statute of the Court of Justice to enable the work of the Court to be better shared and to change the General Court's working methods. The Council approved all the amendments passed by the European Parliament in first reading on 5 July, after agreement was reached between the two institutions (see EUROPE 10649).
The regulation makes provision initially for: - putting in place posts of vice-president for both the Court of Justice and the General Court so that the president can be assisted or replaced if necessary in all cases sent to the Grand Chamber; both president and vice-president will be elected by the judges from among their number and will hold the positions for renewable three-year-terms of office; - amendment of the composition of the Grand Chamber to include three presidents of the five-judge Chambers, consequently altering the quorum needed for decisions in the Grand Chamber (11 judges) and the full Court (17 judges), the number of judges making up the Grand Chamber will be 15; - specialised courts (Civil Service Tribunal) being able to appoint temporary judges (former Court judges) alongside judges currently in post so that, in the event of illness, the temporary judges could act as replacements.
However, the other request from the Court, that the number of judges in the General Court be increased from 27 to 39 was put back for discussion by the Council at a later date.
Adoption of this regulation follows on from a request from the Court in April 2011 in response to the increasing work load and growing delays in the proceedings of the three courts following the extension of their powers after the Lisbon Treaty came into effect and the various EU enlargements. (FG/transl.rt)