Emmanuel Macron has decided to tackle the "
responsibility of magistrates
" before litigants, increasingly critical of their justice.
While the whole body had hoped since the start of the five-year term for a constitutional reform for more independence, it is rather invited to strengthen its ethical tools.
In a letter of February 17, the Head of State asked the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) for proposals to break what Eric Dupond-Moretti could call itself.
The agenda leaves the unions thoughtful: "
We are not hostile to the principle, but the schedule is a little strange given the tense context between politics and justice,
" notes Céline Parisot, president of the Union Syndicale des Magistrates.
On the menu of presidential grievances, figures on "
the weak disciplinary activity
" of the CSM in general and in particular when the litigants spontaneously file a complaint, often without resorting to a lawyer.
Since this possibility was opened in 2011, "
the annual average of complaints stands at 263
" but only "
8 complaints on average have been declared admissible annually.
In 2019, 11 complaints were declared admissible out of the 324 received,
”regrets Emmanuel Macron in his letter.
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More generally, since the introduction of this procedure in 2011, out of the 2,647 complaints before the application admissions committee, 2,415 were deemed manifestly inadmissible or manifestly unfounded, i.e. 92.3% and only 68 were deemed admissible either 2.7%.
About ten were referred to one of the disciplinary formations of the Supreme Judicial Council, ie 0.4%, but none gave rise to disciplinary sanctions.
It must be said that the majority of requests aim to challenge a court decision, which is not the competence of the CSM, in charge of disciplinary proceedings.
Three requirements
This scarcity of referrals accentuates feelings of opacity of justice and mistrust vis-à-vis the institution.
For the Élysée, it is therefore time to redefine "the
right balance between increased transparency and accountability of the judiciary" and the need not to undermine "the authority of their decision
".
The roadmap is limited by three requirements: the need for Emmanuel Macron, "
to make the complaints system for litigants more effective
" in order to "
better understand the professional inadequacy of magistrates
".
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This will also require a "
reflection on the definition of disciplinary fault
".
In addition, the CSM is asked to stem the behavior of certain magistrates who lack delicacy, dignity or even impartiality.
In the viewfinder of the presidency, these "
remarks of the hearing
" which sometimes humiliate the litigants, but also "
the difficulties of obtaining documents
", "
the lack of access to the magistrate
", or even "
the notification of rights
" done too casually.
A heavy program that the CSM should complete by the summer.
