The question could be posed as follows: “Would you like to be judged by a judge on the verge of exhaustion and not being able to listen to you for more than a few minutes or take the time to examine your case? summarized during a press conference Kim Reuflet, president of the Syndicate of the magistrature, organized by several trade union organizations of civil servants of the ministry of justice (USM, SM, UNSA, CGT and CFDT).
With Céline Parisot, her counterpart from the Union Syndicale des Magistrates, they announced on Wednesday that they had filed an inter-union complaint against France before the European Commission, for breach of EU legislation on labor law applicable to magistrates. It is now up to the institution to decide whether to follow up on this complaint by questioning the French State, which will have to react within seventy days. Depending on the answers, the Commission will then be able to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union, a body based in Luxembourg which monitors compliance with Union law.
The complaint recalls that France has 10.9 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, against a “European median of 17.7 and an average of 21.4”according to figures from the Directorate of Judicial Services and the 2020 report of the CEPJ. “This situation makes it impossible to comply with EU law concerning rest times and maximum working hours for magistrates”say the plaintiffs.
“French magistrates are compelled to thank you”
More than two months after the publication of a column in the newspaper the worldsigned by nearly 7,500 magistrates, clerks and auditors of justice reporting their distress, their anger does not weaken.
“We need more resources”, hammer all the union representatives over this press conference. From the column published in November, “no one can pretend to be unaware of what is happening in our jurisdictions”insists Kim Reuflet, recalling once again some of their difficulties: “The hearings begin at 1 p.m. and continue late into the night, the magistrates work during their weekends, during their holidays, give up training…” “The French magistrates are compelled to thank you. […] We are asking for formal explanations from France to justify why they cannot have European legislation applied.argues Céline Parisot.
At the same time, the unions have indicated that local initiatives have been launched: in Nanterre, for example, the magistrates listed at the beginning of February 121 tasks that they will no longer perform, for lack of staff. On January 25, the unions represented on the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee (CHSCT) of the Ministry of Justice voted unanimously “a request for expertise on the serious risk to which the agents are exposed”.
The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, must determine whether or not to accede to this request. “If he keeps silent for two months, it will become a refusal, analyzes a union representative. This will then be seen as a new form of contempt for staff.