The government refers to the report issued today by the European Commission on the efficiency of the justice sector in all the countries of the European Union (the Justice Scoreboard).

It is positive to note that, compared to previous years, more people believe that the Judiciary in Malta is independent. In fact an absolute majority of 56% of the population believe that the Judiciary is independent, up from 45% last year. This positive trend also applies to companies in Malta, where more companies believe that the Judiciary in Malta is independent compared to last year.  

It is interesting to note that almost three fifths of the European Member States have experienced a downward trend in terms of the perception of independence of the Judiciary, meaning that Malta is one of the few Member States which has experienced a strengthening in the perception of independence of the Judiciary.

This year's Justice Scoreboard also studies the efficiency parameters of the justice sector during the year 2017.

Challenges still lie ahead in the Justice sector.  However, the Justice Scoreboard published today shows that our country is on the right track.  In fact, our Courts have kept decreasing the length of time they take to decide civil, commercial and other cases and a marked improvement has been achieved between 2010 and 2017.  The Government recognizes that this positive trend must also be experienced at the Appellate Stage and that is why, earlier in this legislature, another section of the Court of Appeal (Superior Section) has been established for more cases to be decided.

It is also positive to note that the number of pending cases has remained stable in the positive levels experienced in the previous two years.  In fact Malta has the eight least number of pending cases in the civil, commercial and administrative field from the whole 28 countries of the European Union.  At the same time Malta has the 4th least number of members of the Judiciary per capita.

Malta has also registered positive results in the fields of participation of the judiciary in training (4th place), the number of lawyers per capita (5th place) and in various IT measures.

The government is committed to keep improving the justice sector, which is a strong pillar of our democracy.