Civil Service Tribunal of the European Union
The European Union Civil Service Tribunal (EUGöD) was one of the three European Union courts . The court was the first and only specialized court in the Union . According to Art. 225a of the EC Treaty introduced by the Treaty of Nice , it was established as a judicial chamber by a resolution of the Council of the European Union of November 2, 2004 and dissolved on September 1, 2016.
The Tribunal began its work on December 12, 2005 by transferring 117 pending civil service cases.
The seat of the court was Luxembourg . Its last president was from October 7, 2013 the Belgian Sean Van Raepenbusch.
composition
Unlike the other courts of the European Union, the EUGöD did not consist of one judge per member state, but of seven judges with a term of office of six years. When selecting them, care was taken to ensure a geographical balance and representation of the different legal systems. When selecting the judges, a seven-person committee made up of former judges from the European Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union as well as “lawyers with recognized qualifications” was heard. The Lisbon Treaty adopted this innovation for the selection of judges of the European Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union .
All judges of the court are listed below.
| Surname | country | Beginning of the term of office | Term expires |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sean Van Raepenbusch (* 1956) | Belgium | Oct 6, 2005 | 31 Aug 2016 |
| Jesper Svenningsen (* 1966) | Denmark | Oct 7, 2013 | 31 Aug 2016 |
| Horstpeter Kreppel (* 1945) | Germany | Oct 6, 2005 | Apr 13, 2016 |
| Heikki Kanninen (* 1952) | Finland | Oct 6, 2005 | Oct 6, 2009 |
| Stéphane Gervasoni (* 1967) | France | Oct 6, 2005 | Oct 6, 2011 |
| René Barents (* 1951) | Netherlands | Oct 6, 2011 | 31 Aug 2016 |
| Haris Tagaras (* 1955) | Greece | Oct 6, 2005 | Oct 6, 2011 |
| Paul Mahoney (born 1946) | Great Britain | Oct 6, 2005 | Oct 6, 2011 |
| Kieran Bradley (born 1957) | Ireland | Oct 6, 2011 | 31 Aug 2016 |
| Ezio Perillo (born 1950) | Italy | Oct 6, 2011 | 31 Aug 2016 |
| Irena Boruta (* 1950) | Poland | Oct 6, 2005 | Oct 7, 2013 |
| Maria Isabel Rofes i Pujol (* 1956) | Spain | Oct 7, 2009 | Apr 13, 2016 |
| João Sant'Anna | Portugal | Apr 13, 2016 | 31 Aug 2016 |
| Alexander Kornezov | Bulgaria | Apr 13, 2016 | 31 Aug 2016 |
The German lawyer Waltraud Hakenberg (* 1955) was the court's chancellor from November 30, 2005 to August 31, 2016 .
Since two positions were vacant from October 1, 2014 because the member states cannot agree on the principles according to which the rotation of competences works, Verica Trstenjak , former Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union , and Arjen were appointed as judges ad interim WH Meij, former judge at the General Court of the European Union (formerly Court of First Instance). The member states finally agreed on two candidates, who, however, were judges of this court only from April 13, 2016 to August 31, 2016.
The judges René Barents, Ezio Perillo, Jesper Svenningsen and Alexander Kornezov were sworn in as judges at the General Court of the European Union on September 19, 2016.
Responsibilities
The EUGöD took over responsibility for legal disputes between the European Union and its officials or other servants. This also included lawsuits from rejected applicants against concours decisions.
The Civil Service Tribunal was responsible at first instance to resolve disputes between the European Union and its officials . With a total of almost 40,000 employees in the institutions, bodies and offices of the European Union, around 150 legal cases occurred each year. These legal disputes related not only to questions of the employment relationship in the narrower sense (such as salaries, professional career, recruitment , disciplinary measures), but also to social security (such as illness, old age, disability, occupational accidents, family allowances). The Civil Service Tribunal was also responsible for the disputes relating to certain specific categories of employees, in particular employees of Eurojust , Europol , the European Central Bank , the European Union Intellectual Property Office ( EUIPO ) and the European External Action Service. His decisions could be challenged at the EU General Court within two months with an appeal limited to legal issues . The appeals decisions of the General Court of the EU could, for their part, under special circumstances be the subject of a review by the Court of Justice. The First Advocate General at the European Court of Justice had to file a request for review within one month of the court's decision.
During its existence, the Civil Service Tribunal had 14 judges from 14 different Member States in addition to the Chancellor, and 1,549 judgments were made.
On September 1, 2016, all pending legal cases were transferred to the General Court of the European Union, which is now dealing with the proceedings again in the first instance . Appeals against decisions of the General Court can be requested from the Court of Justice of the European Union .
effectiveness
After the Civil Service Tribunal's first year of activity was devoted to defining its internal and external procedures, in particular drafting its rules of procedure, the 2007 case-law statistics showed that case-law activity was steady. The General Court closed 150 cases in 2007 and received 157 new claims. The number of new cases and the number of cases settled were thus almost in balance.
One of the reasons why the number of pending cases (235) was relatively high was that the number of cases settled in the first year of the General Court (50) was not up to its capacity. In addition, in numerous pending cases, the proceedings had been suspended until the General Court of the European Union issued a landmark judgment or the Court of Justice reached a decision on an appeal.
The average duration of proceedings in 2007 was 16.9 months for cases settled by judgment and 10.3 months for cases resolved by decision.
literature
- Hazel Cameron: Establishment of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal . In: Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 7 (2006), pp. 273-283.
- Graham Butler: 'An Interim Post-Mortem: Specialized Courts in the EU Judicial Architecture after the Civil Service Tribunal'. In: International Organizations Law Review 16 (2019).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Court of Justice of the EU - Council adopts reform of the court . December 2015 ( eu2015lu.eu [accessed April 27, 2017]).
- ^ Alberto Alemanno, Laurent Pech: Reform of the EU's Court System: Why a more accountable - not a larger - Court is the way forward . VerfBlog, June 17, 2015