Posted Oct 30, 2022 2:55 PMUpdated Oct 30, 2022, 4:05 PM
Before a probable triggering of 49.3 by the government, the Assembly has just adopted an “unpublished” justice budget, welcomed the Keeper of the Seals. The agenda of the second part of the finance bill has been turned upside down so that the appropriations for justice are discussed from the start, which have increased by 8% for the third consecutive year.
However, this increase has not allayed concerns. “The suffering continues”, “the dysfunctions continue”, hammered the deputy LFI Raquel Garrido in the hemicycle. Her colleague Elisa Martin recalled the structural problems of civil justice, “this everyday justice, at the end of the line”.
This branch of justice (family, property, debts, contracts, etc.), which represents 60% of judicial activity, is a priority for the Keeper of the Seals. Since his arrival at Place Vendôme, Eric Dupond-Moretti has been committed to bringing citizens closer to justice, which means making it more responsive.
“Quick Sugars”
The Minister claims progress in this area: the stock of priority civil cases has decreased by 30% in about eighteen months. “We dealt with the emergency: the first instance and more particularly priority litigation”, explains the Chancellery. For example, the files accumulated by the Paris court on Social Security litigation have gone from 7,000 to 5,000 in one year.
Eclusing the stock is fundamental, underlines the report of the committee of the general states of justice, published in July. The accumulation of unprocessed cases, in particular because of the Covid pandemic, leads to a backlog of the judicial courts and the lengthening of procedures. The number of new business remains below its level before the health crisis.
The Chancellery attributes the drop in stock to its policy of hiring contract workers, 605 of whom will be made permanent out of the 1,000 who were called in to reinforce civil magistrates last year. These famous “fast sugars”, as Eric Dupond-Moretti called them.
In 2021, the average processing time for cases in the courts was 13.7 months. This year, the ministry expects it to drop to 11.5 months. For appeal proceedings, where the problem is even more serious, the period should be reduced from 17.5 months to 15.5 months.
“The indicator to monitor is indeed that of the deadlines, rather than the stock of files”, insists Patrick Hetzel (LR), special rapporteur for the justice mission within the finance committee of the Assembly. “The ministry’s annual performance project provides for a further increase in 2023, to thirteen months,” he points out. On appeal, the delay will rise to 16.5 months.
The MP recognizes the efforts that have been made to support the magistrates. “But the ministry is very late in the dematerialization of procedures and it has not drawn all the consequences of the states general with regard to the clerks”, he regrets, referring to a vacancy rate among the latter which exceeds 7%.
“Tribune of 3,000”
Within five years, the recruitment of 1,500 court clerks and 1,500 magistrates is expected. The government is doubling down on training, while it takes eighteen months to train a clerk and thirty-one months for a magistrate.
The number of auditors recruited at the National School of Magistracy (ENM) has been increased to 380, a historic level. The first promotion of this new era chose a name in resonance with current events: it was baptized “Tribune des 3,000”, in reference to the tribune published in “Le Monde” in November 2021 which denounced the dilapidation of justice . Quite a symbol.