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 Validation of the Draft Action Plan for Backlog Reduction and Efficiency Improvement 2026-2028 –First Instance Court of Thessaloniki

Validation of the Draft Action Plan for Backlog Reduction and Efficiency Improvement 2026-2028 –First Instance Court of Thessaloniki

On 8–9 December 2025, the Court Team of the First Instance Court of Thessaloniki adopted the measures which will be implemented in the next three years in the framework of the Action Plan for the Reduction of backlog and efficiency improvement. Also, they defined the timing of the deployment of main actions for the beginning of 2026. On the second day, the Court team was introduced to the change-management and communication plans.

The validated Action Plan is aligned with the CEPEJ Backlog reduction tool designed to help courts identify structural delays and adopt concrete measures, from case-flow management to optimal use of digital tools, to reduce pending caseloads and ensure timely justice.

By adopting this Plan, the First Instance Court of Thessaloniki commits to concrete, measurable, and monitored improvements in case-handling processes for 2026–2028. This progress reflects a concrete step-by-step approach of the CEPEJ project, aiming at allowing effective ownership  of the proposed changes by local actors.

This activity was organised within the framework of the joint EU/CoE project “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 through the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission.

Thessaloniki, Greece 8–9 December 2025
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