Court of Justice 2024 Budget Review

Parliament's Decision on the Court of Justice (CJEU)

The European Parliament has approved the "discharge" of the CJEU for the 2024 financial year. This means the Parliament confirmed that the Court spent its budget correctly, its accounts are reliable, and it followed EU rules.

Financial Overview

• Total Budget: The CJEU's budget was €503.8 million in 2024, an increase from €487.5 million in 2023.
• Spending Focus: The largest expense remains personnel costs (salaries and pensions), which account for about 80% of the budget.
• Spending Rate: The Court spent almost all the money it was given, with an implementation rate of 97.72%.

Workload and Operations

The Court handled a significant increase in cases in 2024:

• New Cases: 920 new cases were recorded (up from 821 in 2023).
• Cases Closed: 863 cases were closed (up from 783).
• Case Duration: The average time to resolve a case was 17.7 months. However, urgent cases saw a reduction in time, now taking 3.3 months (down from 4.3 months).

The Court also implemented several improvements:

• Digital Tools: Online filing (e-Curia) was used for 91% of documents. A new "One-stop-shop" software was launched to speed up case handling.
• Workload Balance: Some preliminary-ruling work was transferred to the General Court to balance the workload.

Staff and Equality

The Court is actively working on staff diversity and well-being:

• Staff Numbers: There were 1,354 officials, with 60% being women.
• Gender Balance: While women make up 60% of the staff, they only represent 35% in senior roles, which the Parliament noted needs improvement.
• Recruitment: The Parliament requested that trainee salaries be adjusted to match EU standards, as some trainees declined offers due to high living costs.
• Training: The Court is focusing on staff training, including a new Code of Conduct.

Transparency and Ethics

The Court has made efforts to increase public trust and transparency:

• Ethics: A new Code of Conduct was adopted in March 2024, covering conflicts of interest and confidentiality.
• Public Access: Judges must publish their declarations of interest online, and the policy for recusing judges with conflicts is mandatory.
• Accessibility: Hearings are now live and recorded on the Curia website.

Technology and Environment

The Court is investing in modernizing its operations:

• Digitalization: The Court is implementing AI assistants in all departments, accompanied by strict rules to protect the independence of judicial decisions.
• Cybersecurity: While spending on projects decreased, the focus on services increased, and the Court analyzed 142 incidents per month.
• Sustainability: The Court reported significant environmental improvements, including:
  • An 18% reduction in energy costs compared to forecasts.
  • Using only renewable energy for electricity and biomass for heating.
  • A 64% drop in paper consumption.

Cooperation and Outreach

The Court works closely with other EU bodies and the public:

• Internal Cooperation: Services like IT, HR, and finance are shared with the Commission and Parliament.
• Public Engagement: The Court saw 16,319 visitors in 2024. Its online presence grew significantly, with major increases in YouTube views and LinkedIn followers.

Summary of Findings

Overall, the Parliament was satisfied with the Court's financial management, its commitment to transparency, and its progress in digital tools and sustainability. Areas identified for future improvement include:

• Long-term planning for personnel costs.
• Improving gender balance in senior leadership.
• Providing more comprehensive training on ethics and AI.
• Making case law clearer and easier for the public to understand.

Broader context

Discharge is a yearly EU control procedure where the European Parliament checks how each EU institution spent its budget and decides whether to close the accounts for a given year. If discharge is granted, it means the institution’s 2024 budget was used legally, reliably and in line with EU rules; if it were blocked, it could trigger political pressure or reforms. europarl.europa

For the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), this 2024 discharge links into a wider EU system where:

• The Court of Auditors first examines the accounts and issues an opinion on their reliability. europarl.europa
• The Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee then reviews that opinion plus the Court’s own management and performance data before proposing discharge. europarl.europa
• The final decision is adopted by plenary vote and published in the Official Journal, forming part of the institutional “scorecard” for future reform and budget negotiations. europarl.europa

This process is part of the EU’s democratic accountability framework: citizens’ money is spent in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg, and Parliament acts as guardian of the EU budget on their behalf. europarl.europa

Impact on people living in the EU

The CJEU’s work, financed through this budget, directly affects how EU law is applied in everyday life across all EU countries. When the Court rules on cases from national courts, its decisions shape rights and obligations in areas such as: european-union.europa

• Consumer and passenger rights (e.g. refunds, delays, vouchers).
• Equal treatment at work, gender and non‑discrimination rules.
• Data protection, environmental standards, and food safety.

Because the Parliament has now approved the CJEU’s 2024 budget management, it signals that the Court continues to operate with sound finances and strengthened internal controls, which helps keep its judiciary stable and independent. If the Court’s budget and management were weak, delays or backlogs could slow down landmark rulings that protect citizens’ rights; the current high implementation rate (97.72%) and heavy investment in digital tools such as e‑Curia and AI‑assisted case handling aim to reduce such delays. curia.europa

The Parliament’s demands for more transparency, better gender balance in senior roles, and stronger ethics and AI‑training are also aimed at making EU justice more trustworthy and understandable for people across the EU. This matters because citizens and companies can lodge cases directly or indirectly (through national courts), and clearer, faster, more open procedures help individuals and small businesses access EU‑level justice without needing to be legal experts. europarl.europa

People outside the EU

Although the CJEU’s core task is to interpret EU law inside the EU, its rulings can still affect people living outside the EU in a few ways:

• EU standards on data protection, environmental rules, or product safety often set global de‑facto benchmarks, so companies worldwide may adapt their practices to match CJEU‑driven EU law. european-union.europa
• When EU‑based companies or institutions are involved in cross‑border disputes, the Court’s decisions can influence how their activities are regulated in non‑EU countries under international contracts or trade‑agreement rules. cambridge
• Greater transparency and digitalisation (e.g. online streaming of hearings, public access to rulings) also make EU case law easier for lawyers, researchers and businesses worldwide to follow and use as reference. curia.europa