Speeding up European justice (Diana Wallis MEP)

Diana Wallis MEP <info@dianawallismep.org.uk>

Speeding up European justice

November 19, 2007 2:30 PM

Speaking at today's meeting of the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee Diana Wallis MEP (ALDE UK) will criticise the Member States for taking so long (in excess of a year) to respond to the request from the Court of Justice to adopt a new urgency procedure.

Whilst urging colleagues to support the new procedure agreed between Court and Council and subject to consultation rights by the Parliament, Ms. Wallis will say:

"I am somewhat surprised that the Court's autonomy to solve issues concerning its own procedure is so curtailed. It has taken an excessive amount of time to arrive at a solution concerning the procedure under discussion because of all the 'toing' and 'froing'. One cannot imagine a national court being treated in this way.

She added:

"There are many reasons why we could see an increase in the Court's workload in the future. The Court has done its utmost to cut waiting times which are now at their lowest ever although still nearly at 18 months. The Court is trying to respond to future changes and we have to make sure that it has more flexibility to react in future, it should have greater independence in this regard."

Ms. Wallis's report also recommends that "the moment is now ripe to start considering the organisational structure and composition of the Court (here understood in the widest sense, including the Court of First Instance and the Staff Tribunal) in the longer term. These have remained largely unchanged since the inception of the Communities. Moreover, should the urgent procedure prove more successful than its 'accelerated' and 'expedited' counterparts, this could further increase the need for reform as national courts increasingly refer urgent questions to the Court of Justice."

Diana Wallis MEPs report can be found at: www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/pr/691/691242/691242en.pdf