EU Justice Scoreboard 2025 highlights strengthened justice systems in the EU

Last June 1, the European Commission published the thirteenth edition of the EU Justice Scoreboard, an annual report providing comparative data on the efficiency, quality, and independence of the justice systems among EU Member States. It shows that citizens in most Member States perceive judicial independence as having improved or remained stable, compared to last year.

This year’s Scoreboard also presents new indicators relevant for the single market, highlighting the essential role of efficient and independent justice systems in fostering a fair and competitive market environment. For example, it shows that companies in 16 Member States commend the autonomy of their national competition authorities.

The findings of this year’s Scoreboard will feed into Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law Report.

Key findings of the 2025 EU Justice Scoreboard

Digitalisation of justice systems

Digitalisation continues to make significant strides: nine Member States allow for the digital submission of evidence in civil, commercial, administrative and criminal cases, a noticeable jump from six in 2024. 26 Member States allow to initiate proceedings or file a claim online in civil and commercial cases.

Efficiency of justice

Compared to last year, eight Member States have recorded shorter proceedings across all categories (civil, commercial, administrative and other cases). For litigious civil and commercial cases, the length of first instance court proceedings continued to decrease or remained stable in 13 Member States.

Access to justice

In 26 Member States, there are specific arrangements in place for access to justice for persons at risk of discrimination. Physical accessibility to court facilities is enhanced in 24 Member States, while 19 have awareness raising initiatives for those at risk of discrimination on where to obtain legal information and assistance.

Independent single market authorities

The report shows that varying processes for appointing public procurement review bodies and national competition authorities exist across Member States. More than half of companies in 15 Member States rate the independence of public procurement review bodies positively, while in 16 Member States, companies commend their national competition authorities’ autonomy.

Next steps

The EU Justice Scoreboard findings contribute to the monitoring carried out within the framework of the Annual Rule of Law Cycle and the European Semester. They will inform the Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law Report, as well as the National Recovery and Resilience Plans.

Alongside the report, the Commission is also publishing the results of the Eurobarometer survey on the public and companies perception of the judicial independence in each Member State. The surveys reveal that over half of both citizens and businesses positively view the independence of their judicial systems.

Background

Launched in 2013, the EU Justice Scoreboard serves as an analytic tool to monitor reforms related to the efficiency, quality and independence of the justice systems across EU Member States. It is part of the EU’s Rule of Law toolbox.

The 2025 edition answers the call for more detailed comparative data, including insights into public procurement review bodies and national competition authorities following the 2024 Political Guidelines of President von der Leyen. The new indicators include for example companies’ perception of the independence of public procurement review bodies and of the national competition authorities; and the appointment and dismissal rules for public procurement review bodies, national competition authorities and supreme audit institutions.

With a budget of around €305 million for 2021-2027, the justice programme supports the development a just Europe, based on judicial independence, quality and cooperation. In 2024, around EUR 41.2 million were provided to fund projects and other activities under the three specific objectives of the programme.

More information: European Commission