From the Brussels office

Agreement has been reached on an increase in the number of judges at the Court of Justice of the EU. The Parliament had previously agreed to bring the number of judges from 24 to 36, but the Council refused to countenance the possibility of not having an equal number of judges from each country. A proposal by the court to increase the number to 56, with a new judge for every member state, attracted a highly critical report.

The final text provides for: 12 additional judges to be allocated to the court at the end of 2015; the seven judges of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal to be transferred to the General Court at the end of 2016; and in 2019, before the final allocation of nine additional judges, an impact study to be carried out on whether the increase is necessary.