Entry into office of new Members at Court of Justice and General Court

The number of Advocates General at the Court of Justice is increased to nine - a declaration¹ annexed to the Final Act of the Intergovernmental Conference which adopted the Treaty of Lisbon states that ‘if, in accordance with Article 252, first paragraph, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court of Justice requests that the number of Advocates General be increased by three (eleven instead of eight), the Council will, acting unanimously, agree on such an increase. In that case, the Conference agrees that Poland will, as is already the case for Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, have a permanent Advocate General and no longer take part in the rotation system, while the existing rotation system will involve the rotation of five Advocates General instead of three’.

On 16 January 2013 the Court of Justice requested that the number of Advocates General be increased by three. It pointed out in particular that, following the successive accessions of new member states to the EU and by reason of both the adaptation of the EU’s institutional framework in connection with the Treaty of Lisbon’s entry into force and of the new areas of jurisdiction conferred upon the Court by that Treaty, the number of cases has been constantly increasing for a number of years.

The Council decided, by decision of 25 June 2013, to increase the number of Advocates General to nine with effect from 1 July 2013 and to eleven with effect from 7 October 2015.

By decision of 16 October 2013, the representatives of the governments of the member states appointed Maciej Szpunar as Advocate General for the period from 16 October 2013 to 6 October 2018.

In addition, on account of the resignation of Mr Uno Lõhmus, by decision of 26 June 2013 the representatives of the governments of the Member States appointed Ms Küllike Jürimäe, a Judge at the General Court, as Judge at the Court of Justice for the period from 6 October 2013 to 6 October 2015. By decision of 16 October 2013, Lauri Madise was appointed as Judge at the General Court for the period from 6 October 2013 to 31 August 2016.

In the context of the partial renewal of the membership of the General Court, by decision of 16 October 2013 the representatives of the governments of the Member States renewed the term of office of Irena Pelikánová for the period from 1 September 2013 to 31 August 2019.

At the formal sitting held today in Luxembourg, the new Members of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union took the oath on their entry into office.

Curriculum vitae of Maciej Szpunar

Born 1971; degrees in law from the University of Silesia and the College of Europe, Bruges; Doctor of Law (2000); habilitated Doctor in Legal Science (2009); Professor of Law (2013); Visiting Scholar at Jesus College, Cambridge (1998), the University of Liège (1999) and the European University Institute, Florence (2003); lawyer (2001-08), member of the Committee for Private International Law of the Civil Law Codification Commission under the Ministry of Justice (2001-08); member of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of European Law, Trier (from 2008); member of the Research Group on Existing EC Private Law (‘Acquis Group’) (from 2006); Undersecretary of State in the Office of the Committee for European Integration (2008-09), then in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2010-13); Vice-Chairman of the Scientific Board of the Institute of Justice; Agent of the Polish Government in a large number of cases before the European Union judicature; Head of the Polish delegation at the negotiations on the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union; member of the editorial board of a number of legal journals; author of numerous publications in the fields of European law and private international law; Advocate General at the Court of Justice since 23 October 2013.

Curriculum vitae of Küllike Jürimäe

Born 1962; law degree, University of Tartu (1981-86); Assistant to the Public Prosecutor, Tallinn (1986-91); Diploma, Estonian School of Diplomacy (1991-92); Legal Adviser (1991-93) and General Counsel at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1992-93); Judge, Tallinn Court of Appeal (1993-2004); European Masters in Human Rights and Democratisation, Universities of Padua and Nottingham (2002-03); Judge at the General Court from 12 May 2004 to 23 October 2013; Judge at the Court of Justice since 23 October 2013.

Curriculum vitae of Lauri Madise

Born 1974; degrees in law (Universities of Tartu and Poitiers); Adviser in the Ministry of Justice (1995-99); Head of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Committee of the Estonian Parliament (1999-2000); Judge at the Court of Appeal, Tallinn (from 2002); Member of the Judges’ Examination Commission (from 2005); participation in legislative work concerning constitutional law and administrative law; Judge at the General Court since 23 October 2013.

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