The latest EU Justice Scoreboard brings good news to Malta about the justice sector. It confirms that the work being done by this government is reaping results and that our justice system is becoming more efficient and better. The turnaround is happening. There is still a lot to do to keep improving, but we are getting there.
The Justice Scoreboard provides a comparative picture of the various justice systems in the EU two years before. Therefore the latest scoreboard provides a picture of the situation in 2014, which incidentally happens to be the first full year of the current government.
We were elected with an ambitious pledge to implement a holistic justice reform programme, and yes, the justice system is improving. The good news is that things will only get better.
The report studies the justice systems from the perspective of efficiency of court proceedings in the civil, commercial and administrative spheres, quality of the justice system and independence of the judiciary. In each of the three ‘chapters’, or tests, we have witnessed important improvements.
In some cases, the improvements exceeded our expectations. Let us go through them.
Length of proceedings is the number one challenge that this government is tackling head on. For years, Malta has been languishing at the far bottom of the table in terms of length of proceedings and this repeated failure triggered a ripple effect of harsh criticisms by the various international institutions, including in the financial sphere.
So much so that the European Commission itself in March 2013 had put our local justice sector in the sin bin, branding it as a Country Specific Recommendation (CSR). We promised action and we showed our plans. The European Commission started taking us seriously and the justice sector no longer remained a CSR.
Malta stands out as a country that is addressing the challenges in the justice sector
We kept implementing change, calmly but with perseverance.
Back in 2014, three factors militated against us. First, the deficit Malta was suffering in previous years in length of proceedings compared to other countries meant the country started the year at a disadvantage. Secondly, the number of new cases in 2014 actually rose compared to the previous year, which complicated matters. Thirdly, other countries, notably Italy, were also implementing their own reform programmes.
Yet, in a single year, between 2013 to 2014, we reduced the overall length of proceedings by a whopping 28 per cent. In 12 months, we managed to cut down on the deficit and leapfrog other countries, such as Cyprus, in the process.
Just imagine the negative reviews Malta would have had to face had things not changed, or worse still, had the previous administration been retained in power.
There is, however, more good news. In select cases – those of an administrative nature – the improvement was so substantial that in the span of a year from the last position we shot up to third place among all EU member states. Remarkable, to say the least.
I am confident that the justice sector will keep improving.
The Justice Scoreboard also speaks about quality of the justice system. Here, as a result of hard work, can-do attitude and perseverance, Malta has seen an improvement in a number of areas.
For instance, it is joint first in the use of IT as a means of communication between the court and practitioners and as a case management tool. In other areas, such as the filing of small claims online and access to online judgments, we have improved compared to previous years. We are ambitious and we want Malta to be a leader in the field of IT as a tool for the better administration of justice.
Malta did exceptionally well in gender ba-lance issues within the judiciary. We topped the list in the rate of increase of women in our courts. Certainly, this is positive and is the result of what we believe in as a government.
The third chapter – that dealing with the independence of the judiciary – also contains good news about our justice system. Malta has improved three places in 2014 compared to 2013, according to a World Economic Forum study that the Justice Scoreboard makes reference to.
For the first time the scoreboard analyses the perception of the independence of the judiciary among the public and companies. The results are positive. There are more people who believe that the judiciary is independent than those who do not think so. Among companies, the results are even more impressive and Malta here lands itself in ninth place from among all EU member states.
As European Commissioner Vera Jourova said, Malta – along with Italy and Latvia – stands out as a country that is addressing the challenges in the justice sector.
Of course, more needs to be done. We are not there yet. Results concerning length of proceedings must keep improving. Other areas – such as alternative dispute resolutions, training for the judiciary, better monitoring systems of court activities and use of surveys – must become a more integral part of our thinking in the legal sphere as a whole.
Yet the Justice Scoreboard is another confirmation from the European Commission that justice reform is working and giving results. We look forward to carrying on working with stakeholders, academics and the public to deliver change.
We will make it!
owen.bonnici@gov.mt
Owen Bonnici is Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government.