Justice

0,3 billion

Cooperation and effectiveness in judicial matters, access to justice, and the rule of law

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DG / Responsible Agencies:JUST

Potential beneficiaries

Judiciary and judicial personnel, their representative bodies, public authorities and training bodies active in the field of justice, academic and research institutions, and civil society organizations that contribute to the development of a European area of justice.

Description and objectives

The Justice program responds to a dual challenge: 1) Support the further development of a European area of justice based on EU values, the rule of law, mutual recognition and trust; 2) To promote the effectiveness of national judicial systems, access to justice and judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters. These are key aspects for the functioning of the EU and for sustaining and applying its common values. More specifically, the program aims to promote:

• Mutual recognition and trust between member states, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, tools for collecting comparative information on quality, independence and efficiency of judicial systems, simplification and digitization of communications, access to legal procedures and information, and linkage with and between national systems;
• The level of knowledge of the EU acquis and EU instruments by the judiciary and judicial staff (legal and judicial training activities are more often national in nature);
• Activities to facilitate effective and nondiscriminatory access to justice for all;
• An environment that respects the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and the protection of fundamental EU rights and values (rule of law, access to justice, role of civil society, and independence of the judiciary).

Types of actions and projects

The Justice program pursues the following objectives:

• Facilitate and support judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters and promote the rule of law, independence and impartiality of the judiciary, including by supporting efforts to improve the effectiveness of national judicial systems and the effective enforcement of decisions;
• Support and promote judicial training in order to foster a common legal, judicial and rule of law culture and the consistent and effective implementation of EU legal instruments;
• Facilitate effective and non-discriminatory access to and use of justice, including by electronic means (e-justice), by promoting efficient civil and criminal procedures, and by promoting and supporting the rights of all victims of crime, as well as procedural rights of suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings.

The Justice program promotes, in particular:

• Actions to support the training of justice professionals, stakeholder dialogue, expert meetings, and the preparation and dissemination of technical guidelines;
• Activities to improve knowledge of EU law, judicial cooperation instruments, relevant case law of the EU Court of Justice, and comparative law (including capacity building of EU judicial networks, such as the European Judicial Training Network);
• Activities aimed at analyzing and understanding civil and criminal law and the legal and judicial systems of the member states, as well as potential obstacles to the functioning of an EU area of justice;
• The actions of civil society and nonprofit organizations that provide services, advice, and support to ensure adequate access to justice for all citizens;
• The development and use of digital and telematic tools useful for judicial cooperation, including the maintenance and expansion of the e-Justice portal (in complementarity with the Digital Europe program).

Highlights

The Justice program builds on its counterpart program from the previous programming period. It proposes a greater focus on promoting the rule of law, which has been challenged (especially in some countries) by the persistent challenges of our time (e.g., economic crisis, migration).