Independence and accountability of the judiciary: ENCJ/CCBE survey among lawyers on the independence of judges 2018/2019

Abstract

In 2019, the survey among the lawyers of Europe about the independence of the judiciary took place for the second time. The survey was organised in co-operation with the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). The survey has achieved moderate success, as it proved difficult to get lawyers to participate, despite the efforts of the ENCJ, CCBE and national bar and law societies. Despite a low threshold, 21 jurisdictions remained of the 29 participating jurisdictions. Relatively high participation was achieved in Hungary, Poland, Sweden and Norway. Consequently, outcomes cannot be presented for all countries that participated, and the outcomes that are presented need to be interpreted with caution. Still, the results are informative about the state of the indepence and accountability of the judiciary in Europe. The perspective of lawyers is an important addition to that of judges. One of the main conclusions is that on a 10-point scale lawyers rate the independence of the judges in their country on average between 5.2 and 9.0. Most countries get a positive score, but several score just above 6.