Bulletin n. 2/2016 | ||
December 2016 | ||
Thomas Horsley |
||
Eurozone Crisis Management, Citizenship Rights and the Global Reach of EU Data Protection Law: EU Legal Developments in 2015 | ||
in Journal of Common Market Studies , Volume 54, Issue Supplement S1 , 2016 | ||
2015 was another productive year for the EU judiciary. Collectively, the Court of Justice and General Court delivered a total of 954 judgments on a diverse range of substantive topics. The year began with an urgent preliminary ruling on the allocation of jurisdiction in intra-EU matrimonial disputes. It ended in late December, with a nod to upcoming seasonal festivities, with a judgment scrutinizing the Scottish Government's plans to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcoholic drinks. At the end of 2015, and in a separate development, the Member States also reached agreement on significant institutional reforms to the size and shape of the Court. The Member States' approach to reform essentially sees ‘more Court’ as the response to the problems of workload and the need to ensure the delivery of judgements within reasonable time – as mandated by Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights (EUCFR). 5 The agreed reforms entered into force on Christmas Day and provide, first and foremost, for a progressive increase in the number of judges at the General Court. | ||