European Court of Justice doubles number of top judges

The number of judges at the second-highest court in the EU is to double to 56, even though the court itself initially only wanted an extra 12, after member states failed to agree on how to appoint them.

National governments squabbled over who would get an extra member of the Luxembourg-based court, so in the end, EU leaders decided that every country would get one.

The move has angered the existing judges at the General Court of the European Court of Justice and has left the EU facing a bill of more than €20m per year.

The extra judges - who will be paid more than €220,000 a year, plus generous allowances - will be introduced in three batches, with member states resorting to drawing lots to decide who gets to join first.

The appointments are an attempt to speed up decision making at the general court, which deals with cases brought by companies and individuals against EU bodies, including antitrust cases.

It has come under repeated criticism for being too slow, with complicated cases such as competition issues taking on average four years to complete.

But Marc Jaeger, its president, registered "deep concern" over the appointments plan in a letter to the head of the European Council late last year, arguing that the court can be speeded up for less money and more quickly.

In the letter, seen by the Financial Times, he wrote: "There are more appropriate, more effective and less onerous means by which to strengthen the General Court and to achieve better and even faster outcome for litigants."

Last year, a record 912 cases came before the court - up from 790 the year before and 722 in 2011. But the workload this year appears to be lower partly because of an increase at the start of 2014 in the number of referendaires, who act as clerks and prepare cases before they are heard. After introducing the extra referendaires, the time it took to prepare cases in 2014 at the court halved.

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The fudge over judicial appointments is another example of the EU's apparent inability to adapt its institutions as its membership and responsibilities expand. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, was supposed to shrink to 19 members last year, but EU leaders opted to keep it at 28.

Court reforms had been bogged down by disagreements between member states since 2011, with proposals from the ECJ to introduce only a few extra judges repeatedly rebuffed.

After another rejection in April 2014, Greece put the matter bluntly in a letter to the court: any number "lower than the number of member states will most likely face the same difficulties".

Soon after, the ECJ proposed a plan that involved 28 extra judges, which was swiftly approved by member states, albeit with some objections.

"The court clearly needs to be reformed and made more efficient which is what we've been arguing for," said a spokesman for the UK's representation to the EU. "We are not convinced just doubling the number of judges is the right way to do it."

A spokesman for the European Council defended the proposal, arguing that member states thought it the best solution. He added: "I cannot comment on how a few judges are feeling."

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