Chapter 12 The Courts of the European Union

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Chapter 12 The Courts of the European Union

• Cini (ed.) European Union Politics, 2nd edition
• OUP Online Teaching Resources

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Structure of the Lecture

• Composition, structure and procedure
• Procedure before the Court of Justice
• The judicial activism debate
• Reforming the Unions judicial system

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Composition, structure procedure

• The Court of Justice (ECJ), The Court of First
  Instance (CFI), the European Civil Service
  Tribunal
• The Court of Auditors (CoA) examine the accounts
  of all revenue and expenditure of the Community

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Composition, structure procedure

• The Court of Justice
• 25 Judges (one judge per member state) and 8
  Advocates General (AG)
• Perform the tasks assigned to the Court by the
  Treaties
• The appointment of all judges must be by common
  accord of the governments of the member states

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Composition, structure procedure

• The Court of First Instance
• Initially created to lessen the workload of the
  ECJ (body attached to the ECJ), but following
  the Treaty of Nice, more cases transferred to the
  CFI
• 25 judges, but no permanent AGs

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Composition, structure procedure

• The European Civil Service Tribunal
• Created in 2004 as a result of the entry into
  force of the Treaty of Nice
• Attached to the CFI to lessen the workload of the
  CFI, 7 judges

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The Judicial Activism Debate

• Judicial Activism
• Practice of the ECJ to exploit the gaps and
  vagueness existing in areas of Community law so
  as to expand the Courts powers and role in the
  Community
• ? Criticism Courts activism exceeds its
  judicial powers and falls in the area of
  policy-making

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The Judicial Activism Debate

• Interpreting Treaty provisions
• In order to guarantee the spirit aims of the
  Treaties
• The Courts capacity for restraint

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Reforming the Unions judicial system

• Growing workload of the Court
• The result of the deepening of European
  integration the expansion of the law of the EU
• The jurisdiction of the European Courts into new
  areas

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Reforming the Unions judicial system

• The Treaty of Nice reform the Unions judicial
  system
• Strengthening the role of the CFI
• Attaching judicial panels to the CFI (e.g. the
  European Civil Service Tribunal
• Efforts to establish a more efficient and
  reliable judicial system in the EU should continue