The European Commission presented, on Friday 10 July, the results of its Justice Scoreboard for 2020, which provides a comparative overview of the independence, quality and efficiency of the judicial systems of the EU Member States.
This 8th edition develops more indicators on these three elements. It covers the years 2012 to 2019, but not the year 2020, and therefore does not reflect the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As regards the independence of judges, the situation remains mixed”, said EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders in a filmed statement.
According to the results of two Eurobarometer surveys commissioned by the Commission, public perception of independence has decreased in about two-fifths of all Member States and in half of the Member States facing specific challenges, compared to last year (see EUROPE 12243/4), he explained.
Interference or pressure from government and politicians was the most common reason given for the perceived lack of independence of courts and judges, followed by pressure from economic or other vested interests.
“The Justice Scoreboard is a key element of the European Union’s rule of law policy. This Justice Scoreboard is not a beauty contest between national judicial systems”, the European Commissioner reminded. The data will be used to feed into the first annual report on the rule of law which the Commission is due to adopt in September.
More efficient judicial systems overall
For the rest, the 2020 edition shows that the efficiency and quality of justice systems in most Member States have continued to improve or have remained stable.
Countries such as Portugal, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia have continued to reduce their backlogs in civil and commercial cases. Despite the improvements, civil and commercial proceedings are still very lengthy in some of these countries, Mr Reynders said.
The Scoreboard also includes for the first time a consolidated indicator on child-friendly justice. On this point, the report concludes that almost all Member States make accommodations for children, particularly in the context of court hearings, but fewer than half of the Member States have dedicated websites for children providing information on the justice system.
As regards resources, the report shows that in 2018 total public administration expenditure on courts remained stable or increased in most Member States. However, the breakdown of this expenditure into different categories continues to reveal significant differences in the structure of expenditure between Member States.
Fragmented digitalisation of justice
Another novelty is that the 2020 edition of the Scoreboard includes new indicators on the digitalisation of judicial systems. “We have seen how important it is to improve the digitalisation of justice in order to keep the courts open even during the Covid-19 crisis”, Mr Reynders recalled.
The report also shows that all Member States are beginning to put in place provisions to ensure that judgments are machine-readable, even if their degree of progress differs.
Moreover, electronic means during court proceedings are only partially available. In more than half of the Member States, electronic submission of applications and transmission of summonses is still not in place or is only possible to a limited extent.
The Commission also notes major shortcomings with regard to the possibility to follow legal proceedings online, where no Member State has achieved full deployment in all jurisdictions and areas of law.
See the communication: https://bit.ly/3ffFMOk (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)