Supporting the reduction of backlog in the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki (pilot courts)
October 2024 – October 2026
« Supporting the reduction of backlog in the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki (pilot courts) »
The project is co-funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission.
In order to make the Greek judicial system operate at optimal efficiency standards and face in particular important backlog of civil cases, the current Project will support the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki’s in their efforts to reduce their backlogs with the support of the CEPEJ tools and in particular its Backlog reduction tool. The project will be based on an assessment of the root causes of delays in court proceedings in the two courts in terms of organisation, legal framework, processes and human resources available. Recommendations and action plans will then be developed to reduce the backlog in close collaboration with the two courts. Finally, capacity-building measures for judges and court staff will ensure that proposed measures are implemented.
Main Activities
- Mapping of the as-is situation in the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki
- Needs assessment (in terms of organisation and operations frameworks) and SWOT analysis of the to-be situation
- Recommendations and concrete action plans for backlog reduction describing the to-be organizational, legal and workflow frameworks, including communication and change management plans
- Introductory workshop explaining the objectives of the project to the courts’ judges, clerks and staff
- Workshops and trainings for the courts’ judges, clerks and staff contributing to the implementation of the action plans
- Awareness raising event for lawyers, mediators and legal professionals in general on the proposed measures
- Final report with policy recommendations of general application to the court systems in Greece for the development of the national backlog reduction strategy
Project beneficiaries and stakeholders
Ministry of Justice; First Instance Court of Athens (courts’ judges and staff); First Instance Court of Thessaloniki (courts’ judges and staff); National School of the Judiciary; Lawyers, mediators and legal professionals in general.
Support to reducing Backlogs in the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki based on CEPEJ tools
The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) launched the project ‘Supporting the reduction of the backlog of cases in the courts of first instance of Athens and Thessaloniki)’ during a kick-off meeting which took place on 5 November 2024 in Athens in cooperation with DGREFORM,...