Following the changes undergone by the Institution in 2020, 2021 promises to be a year in which ongoing projects will continue, incorporating the innovations resulting from the experience of working from home, in a context of a gradual return to more face-to-face working methods.

 

In the context of the digitisation, simplification and rationalisation of document flows and decision-making processes, an integrated case-management system project, for which the public procurement procedure drew to a close in 2020, will see significant developments leading to considerable gains in terms of efficiency for the courts and the departments involved in case handling and management.

The positive aspects of generalised remote working – identified, inter alia, through surveys conducted amongst members of staff and heads of unit – will form the basis of an overall reflection on the practical arrangements for working from home on a part-time basis. Such developments will include considerations relating to the work-life balance; supporting the increased autonomy of members of staff from the perspective both of staff well-being and quality of service; as well as the means to ensure staff cohesion and the development of the relationship between members of staff and the Institution.

 

Virtual presence technologies, which were used so intensively in 2020, will serve as the basis for a project to diversify the range of services available to visitors. This project is intended to offer external visitors, for whom travel to Luxembourg constitutes an obstacle to their learning about the Court (inter alia, owing to geographical distances, the impact of such a journey in terms of time and cost, including the cost to the environment), the possibility of making a virtual tour of the Institution’s buildings as part of a remote visit. The proposed programme will include video sequences, a guided tour of the buildings and interactive encounters with members of the Court’s staff. Through this virtual visits programme, the Institution seeks to offer to a wide audience the possibility of learning about the Court’s role in the European institutional system and its contribution to the EU legal order, in the pursuit of a democratic goal. 2021 will initially see the launch of a pilot phase with a limited number of groups of young people (aged between 15 and 18), before expanding and adapting the service to other categories of visitors.