Koen Lenaerts, president of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), presented some the year’s key highlights, specifically mentioning that, “in April 2017, the ‘Judicial Network of the European Union’ (JNEU) was set up under the auspices of the ECJ in order to reinforce the cooperation between it and the national courts in the service of high-quality European justice.”

With regards to the institution’s judicial activity, Lenaerts reported that the ECJ had delivered numerous judgments which directly relate to the concerns of citizens, citing examples such as; judgments on the wearing of the Islamic headscarf at work, the rights of air passengers, the Uber Pop service, immigration policy, the proof of the defectiveness of a vaccine.

“All of those judgments […] show that the case-law of the ECJ is no longer limited solely to economic issues but covers ever more diverse areas in relation to the daily life of citizens.”

According to the activity report, in 2017 a total of 1,656 cases were brought before the Court of Justice and the General Court. 739 cases were brought before the Court of Justice alone, including 533 requests for a preliminary ruling.

It continues, “Leaving aside approximately 40 similar cases concerning the rights of air passengers in the event of cancellation or long delay of a flight, the statistics show a balance between the cases brought (739) and the cases closed (699) in 2017.”

As for the General Court, it has increased its productivity by almost 20% in comparison with 2016 (895 cases closed), while continuing to reduce the average duration of proceedings, approximately 16 months, 40% less than in 2013.

Additional Information

“The Court of Justice of the European Union is the judicial authority of the European Union […]. Its task is to ensure compliance with European law by overseeing the interpretation an application of Treaties[…]. The Court of Justice of the European Union is made up of two courts: The Court of Justice and the General Court.” Source: Europa.eu