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Judicial Appointments in the General Court and Court of Justice

By Bartolus

There's been quite a lot of activity on appointments of judges to the Court of Justice and, especially, the General Court lately. They are the first appointments to be made under the new procedure laid down in Article 255 TFEU which states that a panel should give an opinion on the suitability of the candidates. For our previous posts on that procedure, see here.

First, the Court of Justice.

Ms Alexandra Prechal from the Netherlands was appointed on May 31, 2010 by the representatives of the Governments of the member States to replace Judge Christiaan Timmermans for the remainder of his term of office which ends on October 6 2012. Judge Prechal's appointment is effective June 10 2010. You can find the appointment decision here.

Interestingly, the decision appointing Judge Prechal expressly states in its second recital that the panel set up by Article 255 TFEU gave a favorable opinion on her suitability as a judge of the Court of Justice.

Congratulations to Judge Prechal!

Next, the General Court. And this is where things look a bit strange.

On June 9, 2010 the Council prepared a draft decision noting that the term of office of 14 judges of the General Court is due to expire on August 31 2010. The draft decision noted that the Governments of the member States had proposed to reappoint 11 of those 14. The list of those proposed for reappointment included Judge Czúcz from Hungary, as he had been nominated by the Hungarian government for reappointment on November 30, 2009 (Council Document 17563/09).

On January 22, 2010, the Greek government had nominated for appointment Mr Christos Vassilopoulos to fill the slot to fall vacant with Judge Vilaras's retirement from the General Court (Council Document 6125/10). But his name never appears again.

On June 21, 2010, the Council prepared a draft decision noting that the term of office of 14 judges of the General Court is due to expire on August 31 2010 (Council document 10952/10). Those not proposed for reappointment were Judge Ciuca (from Romania), Judge Meij (from the Netherlands), Judge Vilaras (from Greece) who were to leave the General Court at the expiry of their terms. The draft decision noted that the Governments of the member States had proposed to reappoint 11 of those 14. Judge Czúcz from Hungary was on the list of those to be reappointed.

On June 23, 2010, the Council prepared another draft decision (Council document 10952/1/10 Rev 1) which mentioned this time that the Governments of the member States had proposed to reappoint 10 of the 14 judges. Curiously, Judge Czúcz (from Hungary) was omitted from the list of those to be reappointed. The second recital to the draft decision states that the panel set up by Article 255 TFUE "has given an opinion on the suitability of the aforementioned ten judges" to be reappointed.

On June 24, 2010, the representatives of the Governments of the member States decided to reappoint 10 of the 11 judges listed in the draft of June 9 (Council Document 10952/2/10 Rev 2). Like in the draft of June 23, the second recital to the decision states cryptically that the panel set up by Article 255 TFUE "has given an opinion on the suitability of the aforementioned eleven judges" to be reappointed. Eleven, not ten judges. That list of 11 included Judge Czúcz but the recital continues that after the opinion was given, Judge Czúcz's application was "withdrawn". In contrast with the decision appointing Judge Prechal to the Court of Justice, there's no specific mention of a "favorable" opinion. What is one to make of that ?

But then Judge Czúcz returns to the fray as on July 1st 2010, the Hungarian government nominates him for reappointment to the General Court (Council document 11908/10).

Finally, on July 7, 2010 (Council Document 11912/10), the representatives of the Governments of the member States decided to reappoint Judge Czúcz. They also appoint Mr Marc van der Woude (from the Netherlands) as judge of the General Court who thus takes up the position vacated by Judge Meij. Their appointments take effect from September 1st 2010 for a term of six years until August 31 2016. As in the previous drafts, the decision contains the same cryptic recital mentioning "an opinion" of the Panel on the "suitability" of those proposed.

Anyway, congratulations to those appointed and reappointed!

Full post as published by EU Law Blog on July 08, 2010 (boomark / email).