On Friday, 14 February, the Judicial Council discussed a number of issues related to the selection process of judicial candidates and the improvement of the organisation of judicial work.
Senator Dzintra Balta, Chair of the Commission for the Selection of Candidates to the Office of a Judge, presented to the Judicial Council the results of the selection of judicial candidates for 2024-2025. A total of 40 applicants applied for the post of a judge of a district (city) court of general jurisdiction, 5 of whom were included in the list of candidates. Whereas, 9 applicants applied for the post of civil judge of a regional court, and 7 applicants applied for the post of criminal judge of a regional court. The selection process for the post of the regional court judge is still ongoing. Dzintra Balta pointed out that most of the applicants fail to pass the test of basic professional knowledge, which takes place in the 2nd round of selection. However, the number of failure scores in the subsequent rounds is lower, yet the main obstacle to further progress is the inability to independently solve legal issues. The Judicial Council started a discussion on the possibility of increasing the number of applicants by launching a selection procedure within the general jurisdiction of the court, separately for civil and criminal specialisations. The Judicial Council agreed to continue discussions on the best possible solution at a separate work meeting. The members of the Judicial Council agreed on the need to take measures, including the organisation of training for applicants at the Academy of Justice, to encourage as wide a range of applicants as possible to apply for selection.
The Judicial Council also discussed the involvement of judges in the exercise of legislative and executive functions. The participation of judges in working groups for the drafting of legislation, examination commissions and advisory councils was discussed. The Judicial Council agreed to collect information on the participation of judges in these working groups, commissions and councils, and to assess their future involvement in order to ensure compliance with the principle of separation of powers.
The Judicial Council also heard a progress report of the Working Group for Management of Time Limits for the Examination of Cases on the long backlog of cases pending before the courts. The report is available on the Judicial Council's website. The working groups of the Judicial Council also reported on the planned lines of action for 2025. This year, the Working Group for Management of Time Limits for the Examination of Cases will work on the development of new time management guidelines, the Working Group for Court Efficiency will focus on balancing the workload of judges, and the Working Group on Specialization of Judges will focus on the activities of the Economic Court.
The Judicial Council decided to postpone the examination of the issue of the guidelines on the basic principles for the specialisation of judges and the guidelines on judicial communication, taking into account the proposals made and received at the meeting.