Search for EU Court’s judges broadened with call for applications

The government is inviting applications and nominations for candidates to the post of judge at the European Court of Justice, whose current incumbent ends his second consecutive term in October 2012.

Judge Anthony Borg Barthet, 64, has not been asked directly by the government to stay on in his post, as is customary, but the former Attorney General is said to have no plans of standing down and may well apply for his reappointment.

The Maltese government has so far failed to force its nomination for the other judge in the ECJ's General Court (formerly the Court of First Instance), after Mr Justice Joseph Filletti failed the rigorous standards of a selection panel.

Government sources suggested that the vacancies issued on the government gazette are a tactic to exhaust all possible avenues, and even go for a broader selection of candidates.

"The selection panel that interviews candidates is too strict in ruling out candidates who have had little experience of the law at a European level," a ministry source told MaltaToday over the failure of Filletti, 65, to make the grade.

Filletti was expected to replace Ena Cremona, the 74-year-old judge at the General Court who tendered her resignation ahead of the end of her term.

MaltaToday was however previously told by the justice ministry that Filletti's nomination had not been officially withdrawn.

Malta was also expected to reconfirm Borg Barthet as judge in the Luxembourg court back in December 2011 along with a host of EU member states which have already confirmed their nominations. Malta is the only EU state not to have reappointed a judge or forwarded a nomination.

Article 253 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union says ECJ judges must be "persons whose independence is beyond doubt and who possess the qualifications required for appointment to the highest judicial offices in their respective countries."

Filletti's unimpeachability was noted when he emerged as the sole member of the three-man Appeals Court who had been untainted by the bribery scandal that led to the reduction of jail time for drug trafficker Mario Camilleri 'l-Imniehru'.

EU rules allow member states to submit their nominations for judges at the ECJ's grand chamber and general court. But first these candidates must be grilled by a panel of retired ECJ judges and senior EU law experts, as well as the Court's president, who give an opinion on candidates' suitability.

Additionally, the workings of the Court of Justice are conducted in French and member states are expected to nominate persons with sufficient experience and knowledge to able to perform their duty at EU level.