Link: National provisions of a Member State which confer on the Prime Minister a decisive power in the appointment of members of the judiciary, while providing for the involvement of an independent body responsible for assessing candidates and providing an opinion, are not contrary to EU law (europa.eu)

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Court of Justice of the European Union

PRESS RELEASE No 66/21

Luxembourg, 20 April 2021

Judgment in Case C-896/19 Repubblika v Il-Prim Ministru

National provisions of a Member State which confer on the Prime Minister a decisive power in the appointment of members of the judiciary, while providing for the involvement of an independent body responsible for assessing candidates and providing an opinion, are not contrary to EU law

Repubblika is an association whose purpose is to promote the protection of justice and the rule of law in Malta. Following the appointment, in April 2019, of new members of the judiciary, that association brought an actio popularis before the Prim’Awla tal-Qorti Ċivili – Ġurisdizzjoni Kostituzzjonali (First Hall of the Civil Court, sitting as a Constitutional Court, Malta), with a view, in particular, to challenging the procedure for the appointment of members of the Maltese judiciary, as governed by the Constitution. 1 The constitutional provisions concerned, which had remained unchanged from the time of their adoption in 1964 until a reform in 2016, confer on Il-Prim Ministru (Prime Minister, Malta) the power to submit to the President of the Republic the appointment of a candidate to such office. In practice, the Prime Minister thus has a decisive power in the appointment of members of the Maltese judiciary, which, according to Repubblika, raises doubts as to the independence of those judges and magistrates. Nevertheless, the candidates must satisfy certain conditions, also laid down by the Constitution, and, since the 2016 reform, a Judicial Appointments Committee has been established, which is charged with assessing candidates and providing an opinion to the Prime Minister.