A bureaucratic hitch has forced Judge Ena Cremona to delay her retirement from the European Court of Justice this month.
The 75-year-old judge decided last year this will be the last month she calls Luxembourg her home but she has no option but to stay for at least another two months in view of the lengthy procedure connected with her replacement.
Judge Cremona has been serving at the ECJ since Malta’s accession to the EU in 2004 and will be succeeded by Judge Joseph Filletti, who retired from the Bench last February.
Judge Cremona will have to wait until the EU Council approves Judge Filletti’s nomination.
Sources close to the ECJ explained that according to the rules her office cannot remain vacant.
Judge Filletti will appear before a panel of experts first before a recommendation is made to the Maltese government, which then has to be approved by the Council. He was only nominated in August although it had been expected that his name would have been submitted by, latest, the end of May.
ECJ judges are nominated for six years and Judge Cremona had another two years to go but she informed the government she was retiring. In this case, the new nominee can eventually be nominated again for a fresh six-year term. This situation meant that not too many potential candidates were willing to be considered for the post.