Council of Europe’s Evaluation Report on the Efficiency of European Judicial Systems

It has not yet been mentioned on this blog that the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) published its evaluation report on the functioning of European judicial systems on 9 October 2014. The full report is available here. In its report, the CEPEJ draws on quantitative and qualitative data to outline the main trends observed in 46 European countries. The following findings to emerge from this report, the fifth of its kind since the CEPEJ was set up in 2002, have been, inter alia, highlighted in the Commission’s press release:

– Contrasting effects of the economic crisis on the budgets of judicial systems;
– European states spend on average € 60 per capita and per year on the functioning of the judicial system;
– Increased participation by users in the funding of the public service of justice;
– Trend towards outsourcing non-judicial tasks within courts;
– Access to justice is improving in Europe;
– There are fewer courts in Europe and a stabilised but uneven number of judges depending on the country;
– The “glass ceiling” remains a reality in the judiciary;
– The courts are generally able to cope with the volume of cases;
– Europe-wide trend towards privatisation and greater professionalisation in terms of the execution of judgments.