In 2023, 821 cases, including 518 preliminary rulings (94 from Germany, 51 from Bulgaria and 48 from Poland), were brought before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), according to the annual activity report just published by the EU institution. The average duration of proceedings was just over 16 months and, at the end of 2023, the number of pending cases was 1,149.
According to its President, Koen Lenaerts, the Court is increasingly dealing with “sensitive matters (...) such as the protection of the values of the rule of law in the context of national judicial reforms, asylum and immigration policy, data protection and the application of competition rules in the digital era, the fight against discrimination or environmental, energy and climate issues”.
In 2023, the European legislator adopted a reform of the internal functioning of the CJEU which, among other things, transfers to the Court of the EU preliminary rulings in six areas, including VAT and excise duties, air passenger compensation and the greenhouse gas Emissions Trading System (see EUROPE 13309/19).
“The goal of that legislative request is to ensure (...), that the workload is better shared between the Court of Justice and the General Court; since July 2022, two Judges per Member State (...) comprise the membership of the General Court”, said Mr Lenaerts.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/chi (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)