Commission Opinion on the requests for the amendment of the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union, presented by the Court

In two requests of 28 March 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union proposed several amendments to its Statute together with the adoption of a regulation concerning temporary judges of the Civil Service Tribunal. Following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, these provisions should, for the first time, be adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure. The proposed amendments concern to varying degrees the three courts currently making up the Court of Justice of the European Union: the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal.

The Commission welcomes the Court's initiative in submitting amendments to its Statute to the EU legislature. Both the nature and the volume of litigation before the EU courts have changed radically in recent years, mainly because of the development of EU law in new areas and the increase in the number of Member States. The enlargement of the EU has also exerted considerable influence on the internal structure of the courts, mainly because of the increase in the number of their Members and in the number of languages that can be used in litigation. Lastly, other changes can be foreseen in the short and medium terms, in particular following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The organisation, resources and functioning of the courts need to be adapted so that they can cope with all these developments.

In the explanatory note accompanying its requests, the Court of Justice provides an in-depth analysis of the current situation, sets out the requirements for reform and puts forward solutions that could satisfy these requirements. The Commission agrees with this analysis to a very large extent. However, the Court's proposals do call for thorough discussion as they are likely to influence the configuration of justice within the EU on a lasting basis. A change to the statute of a court is never insignificant as the legitimacy of the court's decisions is based on its statute. The statute must protect the independence, impartiality and authority of the court while ensuring effective access to justice by guaranteeing efficient and diligent acts.

In this document the Commission sets out in detail for the legislature's attention the reasons why it is supporting the Court's proposals, while at the same time suggesting changes and additions to certain points.

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)596: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:596:FIN

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