The EU Commission launched ‘The European Justice Scoreboard’ last week. This report is a new comparative tool which seeks to promote effective justice systems in the European Union and as a result reinforce economic growth. The report provides objective, reliable and comparable data on the functioning of the justice systems in the 27 Member States of the EU.
The comparative tool assesses a Member State’s efficiency through analysis of a number of factors, including:
In addition it examines factors that aid the improvement of the quality and efficiency of legal systems. These factors include:
Olli Rehn, Vice-President for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro, said, “High quality, independent and efficient justice is essential to a growth friendly business environment. This new scoreboard will help EU Member States to strengthen their legal systems, boosting their efforts to stimulate investment and job creation.”
In the aftermath of the first report, the European Commission is now inviting Member States, the European Parliament and all stakeholders to take part in an open dialogue about how to continue the improvement of national justice systems in the EU. European Justice Ministers already held a discussion earlier in March on how efficient judicial systems can contribute to economic growth at a Justice Council meeting.
Click here to read the report in full
Click here to read a press release from Europa
Click here to read an article from the England and Wales Law Society Gazette
In other EU news, an agreement has been reached on the terms of a draft accession agreement of the EU to the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The draft text has now been sent to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for its opinion. Accession to the ECHR became a legal obligation of the EU under the Treaty of Lisbon. Three years of negotiations have taken place in advance of this draft agreement.
Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, welcomed the agreement and said, “This is a decisive step, paving the way to EU accession to the European Convention of Human Rights. It will contribute to the creation of a single European legal space, putting in place the missing link in the European system of fundamental rights protection.”
Accession to the ECHR will strengthen the protection of human rights in Europe and submit the EU and its acts to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Click here to read a press release from the Council of Europe
Click here to read a UK Human Rights Blog article