October 2024 – October 2026

 


« Supporting the reduction of backlog in the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki (pilot courts) »

The project is co-funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission.   

 

Context and Objectives

In order to make the Greek judicial system operate at optimal efficiency standards and face in particular important backlog of civil cases, the current Project will support the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki’s in their efforts to reduce their backlogs with the support of the CEPEJ tools and in particular its Backlog reduction tool. The project will be based on an assessment of the root causes of delays in court proceedings in the two courts in terms of organisation, legal framework, processes and human resources available. Recommendations and action plans will then be developed to reduce the backlog in close collaboration with the two courts. Finally, capacity-building measures for judges and court staff will ensure that proposed measures are implemented.

Main Activities

  • Mapping of the as-is situation in the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki
  • Needs assessment (in terms of organisation and operations frameworks) and SWOT analysis of the to-be situation
  • Recommendations and concrete action plans for backlog reduction describing the to-be organizational, legal and workflow frameworks, including communication and change management plans
  • Introductory workshop explaining the objectives of the project to the courts’ judges, clerks and staff
  • Workshops and trainings for the courts’ judges, clerks and staff contributing to the implementation of the action plans
  • Awareness raising event for lawyers, mediators and legal professionals in general on the proposed measures
  • Final report with policy recommendations of general application to the court systems in Greece for the development of the national backlog reduction strategy

Project beneficiaries and stakeholders

Ministry of Justice; First Instance Court of Athens (courts’ judges and staff); First Instance Court of Thessaloniki (courts’ judges and staff); National School of the Judiciary; Lawyers, mediators and legal professionals in general.

Contacts

Council of Europe - Strasbourg

 

Emmanuel Baron

Project Coordinator

 

Jovana Matic

Project Coordinator

 

Ervilda Smajlaj

Assistante de projet

Translation of CEPEJ documents
News

Back Raising awareness on backlog reduction tool and practical solutions for Greek pilot courts

Raising awareness on backlog reduction tool and practical solutions for Greek pilot courts

Athens, 15 May 2025 – CEPEJ organised an awareness-raising event to promote effective practical approaches to reducing case backlog in the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki. Organised within the framework of the joint EU/CoE supported initiative “Supporting the reduction of backlog in the First Instance Courts of Athens and Thessaloniki”, this event brought together more than 100 participants, including the presidents, judges and registrars of these two courts, representatives of the courts of appeal of the two jurisdictions concerned and the Supreme Court, legal professionals, including lawyers and mediators, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Justice. The event focused on the implementation of the CEPEJ Backlog Reduction Tool, offering a step-by-step methodology and presentation of European good practices to improve case management and overall judicial efficiency. CEPEJ experts, namely Mrs Sonya Djemni-Wagner, Advocate General at the Cour de Cassation (France), Mr Georg Stawa, counsellor for the Western Balkans, Federal Ministry of Justice (Austria), Mr Dimitrije Šujeranović judicial reform expert (Serbia) and Mrs Helen Burrows, judicial reform expert (UK) highlighted the importance of accurate statistics, strategic and sustainable planning in backlog prevention.

Speakers included Mr Ioannis Bougas, Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr Konstantinos Koussoulis, Vice-President of the Hellenic Council of State, Mr Kjartan Björnsson, Head of Unit SG REFORM, European Commission. Each underlined the shared commitment to supporting judicial reform in Greece.

In parallel to this event, CEPEJ experts conducted two workshops on 13 and 14 May in Thessaloniki and Athens. The aim of these workshops was to present and discuss with judges and staff from the pilot courts the initial findings of the diagnostic phase they had carried out, in order to lay the foundations for the development of specific action plans to reduce the backlog of cases.

This project is co-funded by the European Union through the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission

Athens 15 May 2025
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