Judges appointed to the General Court

Source: Council of the European Union (Council) i, published on Wednesday, March 23 2016.

15 judges to the General Court were appointed by the EU member states' governments on 23 March 2016.

The General Court belongs to the Court of Justice of the European Union. It is the court of first and last resort for the majority of decisions taken by the Commission and other EU organs in all areas where the European Union holds competences.

Out of the 15 appointments to the General Court eight are related to the partial renewal of the General Court that takes place every three years. The remaining seven appointments are linked to the reform of the General Court agreed in 2015.

Partial renewal

In the frame of the partial renewal the following persons were appointed judges for the period from 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2022:

  • Mr Sten Frimodt Nielsen (from Denmark)
  • Mr Dimitrios Gratsias (Greece)
  • Mr Marc Jaeger (Luxembourg)
  • Ms Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk (Poland)
  • Mr Viktor Kreuschitz (Austria)
  • Mr Paul Nihoul (Belgium)
  • Mr Savvas S. Papasavvas (Cyprus)
  • Mr Marc Van der Woude (Netherlands)

Ms Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk and Mr Paul Nihoul are new judges at the General Court. The remaining persons are re-appointed as judges at the General Court.

In total, the term of office of 14 judges will expire on 31 August 2016. Two judges were already re-appointed on 16 September 2015 (Mr Heikki Kanninen from Finland and Mr Juraj Schwarcz from Slovakia). Another four judges will have to be appointed by 31 August 2016 to complete the 2016 partial renewal.

Reform of the General Court

Pursuant to the reform of the General Court the member states' governments appointed the following persons judges for a term of office ending on 31 August 2016:

  • Mr Dean Spielmann (Luxembourg)
  • Mr Constantinos Iliopoulos (Greece)
  • Ms Nina Półtorak (Poland)
  • Ms Anna Marcoulli (Cyprus)
  • Mr Zoltán Csehi (Hungary)

for a term of office ending on 31 August 2019:

  • Mr Virgilijus Valančius (Lithuania)
  • Mr Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Ibáñez-Martín (Spain)

The mandates of the first judges are shorter than of the two remaining judges to bring them in line with the need of partial renewal every three years. Judges may be reappointed.

In order to complete the first stage of the reform of the General Court, another five judges are to be appointed.