European Court of Justice case law on judicial independence

Briefing 19-07-2021

Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) lists the values upon which the Union is founded. According to this Article, these values are shared by the Member States and form the axiological backbone of EU law. The rule of law is listed, alongside democracy and fundamental rights, among the crucial values underpinning the Union. However, Article 2 TEU is more than just a mere declaration; it is also a source of binding obligations upon the Member States to uphold the Union's values, and therefore also the rule of law. The latter concept, despite broad discussions as to its exact content, undoubtedly entails such elements as judicial independence, understood in particular as the independence of the judiciary from other branches of government (legislative, executive). All other elements of the rule of law, such as the principle of legality, whereby government may act only on the basis of law and within its boundaries, or the principle of constitutionalism, whereby the parliament's law-making powers must be exercised within the limits of the constitution, or the existence of judicial review to enforce those principles – all depend on judicial independence as their fundamental pre-condition. Recently, however, faced with challenges to judicial independence in certain Member States (as evidenced by on-going Article 7 TEU proceedings), the European Union has started developing its own standards in this area. Examples include the Commission's rule of law framework (adopted in 2014), its two communications on the rule of law, and the annual rule of law report, the first of which was adopted in September 2020. The case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) plays a crucial role in this respect, and scholars point out that the Court has been the most effective EU institution with regard to safeguarding judicial independence in the Member States. The present briefing provides a concise chronological overview of the Court's recent case law on judicial independence – described by scholars as 'truly revolutionary' – starting from the 2018 Portuguese Judges case.