The heads of jurisdiction of the seat and of all the courts of appeal in France are used to remaining discreet. But in the wake of the tribune, published Tuesday by the daily Le Monde, and signed by more than 3,280 magistrates (more than a third of the profession), they took up the pen. In a letter addressed to the Keeper of the Seals, and which we were able to consult, the members of the national conference of attorneys general and of the national conference of the first presidents of the Court of Appeal drive the point home, describing a "desperation" in the profession and calling for a “pause” in reforms.
Pointing out a "form of weariness, of despair on the meaning of their missions, heckled by incessant reforms, rendered ineffective by obsolete computer systems, often paralyzing, and by a logic of management of the shortage that has become unbearable", Frédéric Fevre (CNPG ) and Jacques Boulard (CNPP), presidents of each of the conferences, assure that the institution is no longer able to withstand legal insecurity and the permanent reorganizations it has undergone for several years.
The senior magistrates denounce in particular reforms which, beyond the substance, "change the operating methods, the information systems, the professional practices, the workloads, all things which are completely hidden in the very conception of these reforms. ".
"Pauses in the reforms"
Lashing out at insufficient staff despite "recent budgetary efforts", they demand "breaks in reforms, both in criminal and civil matters" but also "to abandon bureaucratic logic" and "to stop asking for feedback with too short notice periods ”.
"It is still necessary to support the heads of courts and jurisdictions and provide them with real managerial levers to get out of this crisis".
"In view of the seriousness of the situation", the letter, dated November 25, is also addressed to "formations of the Superior Council of the Magistracy.
The Minister of Justice Eric Dupond-Moretti received this Friday from the signatories of the platform of more than 3,000 magistrates denouncing their working conditions and shouting their growing discomfort.
About thirty of them - authors of the tribune, magistrates of the bench and the prosecution, judges of application of sentences, investigating judges ... - were received at Place Vendôme for "a little more than three hours", declared the Minister for the Press, at the end of this meeting.
He said he had heard "a moving testimony, very strong, especially on their working conditions, on the workload".