Malta will soon have a third judge appointed to the European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg.
At present, all 28 European Union member states have the right to appoint two judges, one at the top level, which deals with institutional cases, and another at the general court that handles private cases.
Now, following a decision to increase the number of judges in order to tackle a backlog and an increase in cases filed, it was decided that each member state would have the right to nominate another judge.
Originally, the ECJ only asked for an additional 12 judges. However, member states could not agree on which countries should have the right to nominate an extra judge. To solve the impasse, a compromise was found by allowing all member states to nominate a new judge each.
The increase in the number of judges will come at a cost because, apart from the handsome remuneration paid to EU judges – about €220,000 a year excluding allowances – the changes will also involve additional staff, chambers, buildings and operational costs.
The increase will come at a cost: €220,000 a year plus allowances, staff, chambers, buildings and operational costs
According to ECJ calculations, the addition of 28 new judges will cost taxpayers about €23 million a year, an increase of 6.6 per cent over the €350 million annual budget of the Luxembourg court.
The ECJ argued that, thanks to the additional judges, it would be able to ensure the number of cases concluded would match the new ones submitted. It would also be able to tackle the backlog of pending cases and shorten the length of proceedings before the general court.
On the other hand, critics deem the additional 28 judges as another extra expense for EU taxpayers, particularly in view of the fact that the Court had said it only needed 12. The new judges are not expected to be nominated all at once but will move to Luxembourg in three phases.
Member states will draw lots to agree on who joins first.
Nominations are made by individual member states. However, the nominee will have to first get the green light from a panel of EU judges who test the suitability of the nominated candidates for the post, particulary their experience in EU legislation.
The two Maltese nominees at the ECJ are former attorney general Anthony Borg Barthet, who sits on the Court of Justice and whose third mandate ends in 2018, and Eugene Buttigieg who is serving his second mandate at the general court, his appointment ending in 2019.