Gender balance among judges at the Court of Justice of the European Union
6.12.2016
Question for oral answer O-000149/2016
to the Council
Rule 128
Mady Delvaux, on behalf of the Committee on Legal Affairs
On 16 December 2015, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a regulation modifying the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Recital 11 of the regulation emphasises the importance of ensuring gender balance within the General Court. It reads ‘In order to achieve that objective, partial replacements in that Court should be organised in such a way that the governments of Member States gradually begin to nominate two Judges for the same partial replacement with the aim therefore of choosing one woman and one man, provided that the conditions and procedures laid down by the Treaties are respected.’
In a subsequent report of 9 July 2016 on the transfer to the General Court of the European Union of jurisdiction at first instance in disputes between the Union and its servants, Parliament again recalled the importance of gender balance among the judges at the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Against this backdrop, we continue to observe an imbalanced situation when it comes to gender balance among the judges. Following the reform of the General Court, only 3 out of 15 newly appointed judges were women, and Member States keep proposing mostly male candidates.
How does the Council intend to deliver on its commitment to address the gender balance among the judges at the Court of Justice? What measures are the Member States going to take in order to promote gender equality when it comes to appointments of the judges of the Court of Justice?