Speech by President of the Republic of Finland Tarja Halonen at the reception for Judges of the Court of Justice of the European Communities on 22 May 2006

I would like to welcome you to Finland and also to the Presidential Palace.

I consider very important, that delegation of the Court of Justice of the European Communities meet with judges of Finnish Courts, ministers and members of Parliament. The meeting both improves the interaction between the Member State and the European Court of Justice and introduces the visitors to the Finnish legal and social system.

The number of cases submitted to the Court of Justice continues to grow, and their processing times are increasing. The average duration of court proceedings is two years.

The Court of Justice has implemented several reforms as a result of the Treaty of Nice and the EU enlargement of 2004. The purpose of these reforms is to ensure the efficiency of the Court without compromising on legal protection.

The Court of Justice has undertaken internal reforms in order to simplify and speed up the processing of cases. The multilingual nature of the Court places particular requirements on its work. Because of the enlargement, there are than 380 language combinations.

Speeding up the processing of court cases is one of the major challenges facing the justice system of the EU. In particular, requests from national courts for preliminary rulings should be processed in shorter time than at present. National courts have to suspend their proceedings until a preliminary ruling has been issued. The Court of Justice has been able to simplify and speed up its proceedings so as to reduce the average processing time for requests for preliminary rulings to 20 months.

Resolving requests for preliminary rulings in less than 20 months would be sufficient for ordinary cases. However, it is too high in cases in the area of freedom, security and justice. The nature of such cases, together with the provisions on quick response in both EU law and national law, call for shorter processing times. This is true not only in cases involving asylum and immigration but also in cases involving judicial cooperation, for instance in cases of family law and child law. The fundamental rights aspect is often highly important in such cases.

The conclusions of the European Council in November 2004 underline the importance of the European Court of Justice in the area of freedom, security, and justice and refer to the requirement for quick response in these matters. The European Council felt that thought should be given to creating a solution for the speedy and appropriate handling of requests for preliminary rulings concerning the area of freedom, security and justice, where appropriate, by amending the Statute of the Court of Justice. The Commission is invited to bring forward - after consultation of the Court of Justice - a proposal to that effect.

The increased volume of work at the Court shows how the world has changed. The European Union has enlarged, and integration has deepened. Also, global awareness of human rights has increased, and accordingly citizens are more likely to appeal to the courts in order to secure their rights.

It is certainly appropriate to refer some of the problems to the Court of Justice, which therefore should be provided with adequate resources. However, we should also ask whether we should prepare for the future by taking other measures too, such as organizing training in the member states or clarifying legislation and other regulations.

With these words I would like to wish you every success in your work in upholding the rule of law.