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;

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;

3. 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);

4. 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;

5. 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;

6. 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);

7. 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);

8. 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 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;

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

10. 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;

11. 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;

12. 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;

13. 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;

14. 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;

15. 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;

16. 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;

17. 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).

ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT

Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, the Chair in his capacity as 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 register1, 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 Chair in his capacity as rapporteur for opinion.