International Law

Operating Rules of Judicial Selection Panel

By Bartolus

Article 255 TFEU requires the establishment of a panel to give an opinion on candidates' suitability to perform the duties of Judge and Advocate-General of the Court of Justice and the General Court before the governments of the member States make the appointments referred to in Articles 253 and 254. The process for setting up such a panel is initiated by the President of the Court of Justice.

The President of the Court has now communicated to the Council his recommendations for operating rules of the panel to start the process.

He also made a recommendation on the composition of the panel which is available here.

As his letter explains, his recommendations draw on the experience of the committee set up under Article 3 §3 of Annex I to the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice which draws up the list of candidates having the most suitable high-level experience to perform the duties of judge of the Civil Service Tribunal. Consequently, his recommendations deal with referral to the panel, the confidentiality of its deliberations, the panel?s freedom to request additional information and to convene hearings, and the presentation of the panel?s opinion to the governments of the member States meeting in the Council.

Unfortunately, the draft Council decision setting out the rules of procedure of the panel is not available to the public. Secrecy strikes again.

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