The Legal Affairs Committee adopted the report by Alexandra THEIN (ADLE, DE) on the proposed Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union to increase the number of judges at the General Court.
The parliamentary committee recommended that the position of the European Parliament adopted at first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure amend the proposed Regulation.
The Committee agreed with the arguments put forward by the Court according to which the need to appoint additional judges is proven. It therefore proposed that the General Court consist of one Judge per Member State and 12 additional Judges.
According to the Committee, the system should be as follows: one Judge per Member State would be appointed under the present system. Thus, an appropriate geographical balance would be ensured and representation of national legal systems taken into account.
The 12 additional Judges should be appointed exclusively on the basis of their professional and personal suitability, regardless of their nationality. However, there should be no more than two Judges for any Member State.
To ensure that the experience of retiring judges is not lost, the report furthermore proposes that retiring judges should be able to nominate themselves in direct submissions to the panel referred to in Article 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The 12 additional Judges appointed on the basis of the Regulation shall take up their duties immediately once they have taken the oath. The term of office of six of them, chosen by lot, shall end six years after the first partial replacement of the General Court following the entry into force of this Regulation. The term of the other six judges shall end six years after the second partial replacement of the General Court following the entry into force of this Regulation.