On discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the financial 2024 – Court of Justice of the European Union

OPINION

The Committee on Legal Affairs calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1. Appreciates the very high budgetary implementation rate of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for 2024 (98 %), which is similar to that of previous years (99.2 % in 2023 and 98.4 % in 2022);

2. Stresses that the budget of the CJEU is essentially administrative, with around 76 % of the appropriations relating to expenditure on Members and staff, and almost all of the remaining expenditure on buildings and IT, and calls on the CJEU to continue to optimise staff and infrastructure expenditure, including through digitalisation and cost-effective IT solutions, while ensuring not to create parallel or redundant structures;

3. Highlights the fact that, owing to the sustained level of judicial activity, the occupation rate of posts remained very high in 2024 (around 97 %) and that the distribution of posts by sector of activity remained similar to that for previous years, with 85 % of posts dedicated to judicial and linguistic activities;

4. Notes that there was a decrease in the pressure on energy-consumption-related expenditure in 2024 and welcomes the fact that this decrease, along with the continuation of a set of energy-saving measures, meant that this category of expenditure could be managed more effectively than in previous years;

5. Notes that the number of cases brought before the Court of Justice in 2024 increased by 12% compared to the previous year (920 cases in 2024 compared to 821 in 2023), which is an increase of around 100 cases more than in each of the previous three years;

6. Notes from the CJEU’s replies to the questionnaire for the 2024 discharge that 920 new cases were submitted to the Court of Justice in 2024 (compared to 821 in 2023), out of which 62,30 % were references for preliminary rulings and 277 were appeals against decisions of the General Court; notes that the General Court saw a major decrease in the number of new cases, from 1 271 in 2023 to 786 in 2024, of which 35,88 % of cases were actions for annulment of acts of Union institutions, 34,10 % concerned actions relating to intellectual property and 9,67 % concerned disputes between Union institutions and their staff;

7. Calls on the CJEU to explore, in cooperation with the national courts, practical guidance tools (guidelines, preliminary reference templates, online training sessions) to support clear and focused formulation of the questions submitted in preliminary rulings, thereby reducing the risk of unnecessary or excessively-long proceedings;

8. Notes the increase in the average length of proceedings for cases completed before the Court of Justice (17.7 months in 2024 compared to 16.1 months in 2023), which is due to a combination of factors, including the high number of appeals requiring both the holding of a hearing and the delivery of an Advocate General’s Opinion; also notes that the average length of proceedings before the General Court was 18.5 months, which implies a slight increase compared to the previous year (18.2 months in 2023), mainly due to the closing of several old complex cases or groups of cases, in particular in the fields of state aid, competition, and banking law;

9. Welcomes, at the same time, the reduction of the average time taken to dispose of cases under the urgent procedure before the Court of Justice, which fell from 4.3 months in 2023 to 3.3 months in 2024;

10. Notes that 1,706 cases were brought before the two courts in 2024, a number which remains at a very high level, comparable to that of the preceding years (1,689 in 2023 including a series of 404 essentially identical cases brought before the General Court counted as a single case, 1,710 cases in 2022 and 1,720 in 2021);

11. Welcomes that, together, the Court of Justice and the General Court were able to complete 1,785 cases in 2024, compared to 1,687 cases in 2023 and 1,666 cases in 2022, and that the total number of pending cases has decreased compared to previous years: considering the previously mentioned 404 cases as a single case, 2,508 cases were pending at the end of 2024 (compared to 2,587 cases at the end of 2023, 2,585 at the end of 2022 and 2,541 at the end of 2021);

12. Notes that 2024 was marked by a fresh substantial partial renewal of the composition of the Court of Justice, with the swearing-in of nine new members, five of whom had previously been judges at the General Court;

13. Welcomes the entry into force in October 2024 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2019 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Protocol No. 3 on the Statute of the CJEU, whereby part of the Court of Justice’s jurisdiction for preliminary rulings was transferred to the General Court; notes that the partial transfer of jurisdiction for preliminary rulings to the General Court concerns specific areas, and especially value added tax, excise duties, the customs code, the tariff classification of goods, passenger rights and the emissions trading system; notes that this reform aimed to preserve the ability of the Court of Justice to deliver high-quality judgements in a timely manner, while devoting greater focus to its role as the EU constitutional and supreme court;

14. Notes that 19 requests for a preliminary ruling lodged with the Registry of the Court of Justice in 2024 were transferred to the General Court in accordance with the new rules providing for the partial transfer of jurisdiction for preliminary rulings after 1 October;

15. Welcomes the establishment of a ‘one-stop shop’ centralising the analysis of requests for a preliminary ruling liable to be transferred to the General Court as well as the creation, at the General Court, of a specialised preliminary ruling chamber;

16. Welcomes, as regards transparency, the publication, on the CJEU website, of written observations submitted in relation with preliminary ruling proceedings after the closing of the case, unless the persons that submitted those observations raise objections to the publication;

17. Appreciates the extension of the online conservation period for the streaming of hearings, which remain available on the CJEU website for one month after the hearing;

18. Welcomes the establishment of an annual dialogue between the CJEU and the European Parliament, devoted to topics of mutual interest relating to the proper administration of justice, in strict compliance with the principle of separation of powers;

19. Notes with satisfaction the high use rate of e-Curia in 2024, with 11,692 e-Curia accounts registered: 96 % of procedural documents filed with the General Court were transmitted through e-Curia, compared to 94% in the 2 previous years, while the use rate of e-Curia at the Court of Justice went up to 91% compared to 89 % in 2023; stresses that the widespread use of e-Curia is contributing to the efficiency, security and traceability of judicial proceedings and encourages further development of the CJEU's digital tools;

20. Points out that dialogue and cooperation with national courts lie at the core of the CJEU’s mission; welcomes the reinforcement of the activities carried out by the Judicial Network of the European Union (JNEU), which fosters cooperation between the CJEU and the national constitutional and supreme courts; acknowledges the setting up, in 2024, of a new communication system for the JNEU and of a forum where member Courts can inquire about legal research matters; notes with satisfaction the intensification of the cooperation between the CJEU and the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), which enables national judges to undertake traineeships, study visits and annual seminars at the CJEU; and the creation of a working group to strengthen cooperation with the EJTN on traineeships and the exchange of information on training programmes offered by EJTN partners;

21. Notes with interest the launch in 2024 of a pilot project providing all of the CJEU’s departments with access to AI assistants; underlines the importance of ensuring adherence to ethical principles when using AI tools and in particular to CJEU’s AI Guidelines adopted in 2024, thus ensuring human oversight in respect of the principle of independence of legal proceedings; highlights in this context the supervisory role of CJEU’s AI Management Board; commends the CJEU for the comprehensive training programme it has put in place in 2024, starting with an “AI awareness month” that included training sessions, roundtables animated by AI experts, webinars and bootcamps, thus taking a first and important step towards creating awareness of staff members about the CJEU’s AI strategy, guidelines and AI in general; notes that staff members also follow courses on change management, knowledge transfer, mentoring, and mental agility to support adaptation to emerging technologies; invites the CJEU to continue organising such training and awareness programmes;

22. Welcomes the fact that no major cyberattacks occurred in 2024; notes however with concern that an average of 142 security incidents per month were recorded and analysed, some requiring human intervention; welcomes that cybersecurity operational capabilities were further strengthened in 2024 to comply with Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2023/2841; recalls in this regard that the cybersecurity action plan and its implementing related IT infrastructure projects, are essential to protect the CJEU’s technological infrastructure from cyber threats;

23. Notes with satisfaction the entry into force in March 2024 of a comprehensive code of conduct for the CJEU staff accompanied by training actions aiming to promote awareness and understanding of the new provisions among all staff;

24. Notes that 61% of the 2,267 officials and agents serving at the end of 2024 are women; welcomes the fact that 54% of administrator posts are held by women; welcomes in particular the increase in the proportion of women in management positions, which rose from 43 % in 2023 to 49%, confirming the upward trend recorded since 2018 (40 % in 2022 and 2021, 41 % in 2020, 39 % in 2019 and 37.5 % in 2018).

25. Regrets, in this regard, the lack of mandatory trainings for all staff and Members, as stated in the CJEU’s replies to the questionnaire for the 2024 discharge; urges therefore the inclusion of all individuals, both staff and Members, into obligatory training sessions in the field of preventing violence against women;

26. Welcomes that all Union nationalities are represented in the staff of the CJEU; notes however that certain nationalities are more represented than others, whereas some of them are largely over-represented; supports CJEU in stepping up its efforts to advertise vacancy notices as widely as possible through interinstitutional websites, social media networks and EPSO; notes from the follow-up report the CJEU’s commitment to analyse relevant data for the implementation of targeted actions aiming at improving geographical representation among its staff including trainees; welcomes the CJEU efforts to raise awareness of the traineeship programmes among national administrations and permanent representations of underrepresented Member States; notes with satisfaction that for traineeships within the framework of the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), CJEU received in 2024 applications from three new Member States participating for the first time in its long-term training programme for national justice professionals;

ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the Chair in his capacity as rapporteur for budgetary assessment declares that he included in his opinion input on matters pertaining to the subject of the file that he received, in the preparation of the draft opinion, prior to the adoption thereof in committee, from the following interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from the following representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies:

The list above is drawn up under the exclusive responsibility of the rapporteur

Where natural persons are identified in the list by their name, by their function or by both, the rapporteur declares that he submitted to the natural persons concerned the European Parliament’s Data Protection Notice No 484 (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/data-protect/index.do), which sets out the conditions applicable to the processing of their personal data and the rights linked to that processing.

INFORMATION ON ADOPTION BY THE COMMITTEE ASKED FOR OPINION