The reform of the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) will go down in the annals of history as an example of poor governance. This very complicated issue combines each member state's selfish interest in having as many judges as the other states, backlogs at the General Court, an internal struggle between the Court of Justice and the General Court, as well as budgetary considerations. The latest twist is the official protest by the president of the Court of Justice to…
Background
To deal with an ever increasing workload, the president of the EU Court of Justice requested, in March 2011, the appointment of an additional 12 judges to the General Court. The institutions accepted the principle, but since the number of judges does not match the number of member states, the matter was insoluble in Council. Each member state is intent on having its judge and the decision requires unanimity. Faced with this impasse, the court presented a new text in October 2014 in which it proposed to raise the number of judges gradually to 56, such that each member state has two judges at the General Court.1. From 2015, 12 new judges would join the General Court. Estimated cost: €11.6 million (for the judge, his staff, registry staff and costs of premises and IT equipment)2. In 2016, they would be joined by the seven judges of the Civil Service Tribunal, who would be reintegrated at an estimated cost of €2.4 million per year (since the staff of a General Court judge is larger than that of a judge at the CST)3. In 2019, nine new judges would be appointed to the General Court, with no increase in its budget.In the end, the General Court would comprise 56 judges, two per member state
