On Friday 26 April, the European Commission presented the results of the EU Justice Scoreboard 2019, which provides a comparative overview of the independence, quality and efficiency of judicial systems in EU Member States.
This 7th edition comes at a time of growing challenges in the field of the Rule of law in the EU (see other news), the EU Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, recalled at a press conference.
“This year results are mixed and show relative improvement with regards to the efficiency of justice systems and the quality of justice in many countries. Sadly, in some countries the trends reversed and the situation is getting worse”, she said.
In general, the table comes to the conclusion that court proceedings in first instance jurisdiction are shorter. Since 2010, the efficiency of civil, commercial and administrative proceedings of first instance jurisdiction has improved or, as a minimum, has remained stable, while it has slightly decreased in about ten countries.
Positive developments can also be observed in the five Member States (Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Portugal and Slovakia) who received specific recommendations on this subject in 2018.
In addition, first instance jurisdiction in money laundering cases now last on average up to 1 year in half of the Member States, but might last 2 years or more in several other countries.
The Scoreboard also illustrates the fact that the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) remains limited in some countries. The results show that in more than half of the Member States, the electronic submission of applications is not an option or is only possible to a limited extent, and that not all Member States allow the online monitoring of judicial proceedings.
Confidence in the independence of the judiciary is declining in several countries
The Commissioner was particularly concerned, however, about the results of a Eurobarometer survey published on the same day, which shows that, compared to 2018 (see EUROPE 12028/18), public perception of the independence of the judiciary has decreased in 16 Member States (Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Czech Republic, Portugal, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Spain, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Croatia).
Croatia is at the top with 76% of respondents perceiving judicial independence in their country as “somewhat bad” or “very bad”, followed by Slovakia (60%), Bulgaria (58%) and Spain (55%). This negative perception reaches the figure of 50% in Poland, 44% in Romania and 33% in Hungary—all three countries hitting the spotlight because of their controversial justice reforms.
Seven out of ten respondents who believe that the independence of their judicial system is “bad” cite political interference or pressure from the government and politicians as the main reason (74%). Almost six out of ten respondents attribute this perception to the fact that the status and position of judges does not sufficiently guarantee their independence (57%).
“Let me be very clear, if a justice system is broken in one country, the impact will be felt all over the EU because we rely on mutual trust”, said Věra Jourová.
Moreover, the 2019 edition of the Scoreboard also provides an overview of disciplinary regimes for judges under national systems and the safeguards that are in place to prevent political control of judicial decisions, a key element in ensuring respect for the Rule of law.
It notes that, in the majority of Member States, the investigator responsible for disciplinary investigations regarding judges is specifically chosen by judges or by a Justice Council, with the exception of Poland, where they are chosen by the Minister of Justice.
The Commissioner emphasised the difference between measurable elements, such as the length of judicial proceedings and the perception of judicial independence. “We see that surprisingly there is not a strong correlation between improving judiciary in those quantitative factors and the perception of the quality and independence of judiciary”, she explained.
The report can be found here: https://bit.ly/2GKAN9p. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)