On Monday 10 April, the European Commission published its new edition of the EU Justice Scoreboard. In it, the Commission points out that member states continue to make progress in shortening procedures (for civil and commercial cases). Commissioner Vĕra Jourová is in charge of the dossier and indicated that half of all countries continue to spend, “more per capita, despite economic difficulties” in this area.
Nonetheless, there are still some significant shortcomings in the national systems and this 2017 scoreboard also sometimes suffers from insufficient responses provided by some countries such as the United Kingdom and Poland (particularly on consumer protection cases). The Commission also criticised Poland over its reforms involving the Constitutional Court.
Overall, the Commission concludes that procedures involving civil and commercial cases are shorter, including those in some member states where the legal systems have been experiencing difficulties. This improvement appears more evident over the five-year period analysed than over the short term. The Commission therefore explained that in 2010, the longest procedures sometimes lasted 850 days, as opposed to 525 days in 2015.
The length of procedures varies according to the member states, however. The scoreboard includes figures on money laundering for the very first time. “As required by the 4th Anti-Money Laundering directive, Member States have provided data for the first time in this area. It shows a large variation in case length – from less than half a year to almost three years- for proceedings dealing with anti-money laundering offenses”. Procedures are longest in Latvia and Hungary. There are six member states that have still not communicated their data. These include Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark.
The Scoreboard highlights disparities between member states in accessing legal aid for poor people and in some member states, citizens whose income is below the poverty threshold do not receive any legal aid in some types of disputes.
The Commission also shows that ICT tools are still limited in some countries. Although they are widely used for communication between courts and lawyers in half of the member states, the use of ICT for electronic signatures is highly limited in over half the EU countries. Commissioner Jourova points out that this is the case for Cyprus and Greece.
Finally, there is an improved or stable perception of judicial independence among the general public than there was previously. This is the case in more than two-thirds of member states, compared to 2016. The trend is the same for businesses' perception since 2010. This is the case in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Spain, but in Croatia and Italy it is at its worst. Poland has a very low average, not far behind Romania, Malta, Greece and France.
It is "high time” that Hungary is debated
In a backdrop to the conference, the Commissioner also debated the case of Hungary and Poland. She considers that these two cases are a cause of concern with regard to all of criteria on the rule of law. Regarding the former, the Commissioner believes that it is “high time” that the Commission carried out a discussion, particularly with regard to the fate of George Soros' University (this university opposes the politics of Viktor Orban), which the government is trying to close. On 12 April, the College of Commissioners will hold a discussion on the subject.
On the question of Poland, where there are also “worrying” trends, the Commissioner pointed out that member states would be requested by the Commission to debate the subject and examine the rule of law criteria. A General Affairs Council on 16 May is due to discuss the subject, as requested by the First Vice President, Frans Timmermans. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)