The first challenge of 2025 will be the successful completion of the implementation of the partial transfer of the jurisdiction to give preliminary rulings to the General Court, applicable since 1 October 2024, and the final stage of the reform of the judicial system of the European Union. The Court of Justice will ensure that all its services provide effective and high‑quality support to the General Court to enable it to deal with this litigation in the best possible circumstances.
In response to the expected increase in the number of cases over the short and medium term, the Court will also push ahead with its programme of digitalising judicial and administrative processes to make its administration more efficient and more effective. It will continue to make use of the possibilities offered by innovative technologies, whilst heeding the caution required by the judicial nature of its mission and with, as its guiding principle, the development of the expertise and skills of its partners.
The year will, however, also be shaped by new projects aimed at citizens, continuing the Institution’s policy of transparency and access to information. To increase the transparency of its judicial and administrative activities, the Court will diversify and re‑design its communication channels. For example, the Institution is set to overhaul its website to meet the needs of legal professionals and the media as well as those of the general public. Furthermore, so that it is easier for all citizens, including the young generations, to understand how it operates and the decisions it makes, the Court will launch an online audio‑visual platform called ‘Curia web TV’, which will broadcast programmes explaining its activities.
In 2025, the European Union will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden. The Court will commemorate this fourth enlargement of the European Union, which, almost 10 years after the accession of Spain and Portugal and following the approval by referendum in the three new States concerned, brought the population of the European Union to 370 million citizens and extended its geographical area significantly, both to the north and towards the centre of Europe. The context of the accession of those three countries, its significance and its implications for each of them will be highlighted, with the participation of prominent representatives from the States being celebrated.
Lastly, the Court will continue the intensive dialogue, in which it has been engaged for over 70 years, with national courts and tribunals to ensure that European law is applied consistently and uniformly.
That dialogue will be conducted, in particular within the framework of the Judicial Network of the European Union, with constitutional and supreme courts, as well as under the umbrella of the Meeting of National Judges organised every year at the Court.
The Court will also be the joint organiser of the ‘EUnited in diversity’ conference in Sofia in September 2025. Following on from the first conference held in Riga in 2021 and the 2023 conference in The Hague, this third conference will mark the continuation of this now established biennial meeting and its theme will be ‘The role of constitutional justice in the common legal order of the European Union’.