EU to intervene on access to justice – McGrath

The EU is moving from an assumption that national justice systems will function effectively on their own to an evidence-based, intervention-capable approach that actively monitors, supports and, where necessary, enforces reforms to ensure access to justice across the union.

In his presentation to the Civil Legal Aid: From Review to Reform (January 12) conference, Michael McGrath (EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection) outlined the mechanisms through which this will be achieved:

• Systematic monitoring through the EU Justice Scoreboard and the annual Rule of Law Report,
• EU legislation – including article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Legal Aid Directive, procedural-rights directives in criminal law, and the recently revised Victims’ Rights Directive,
• Accelerated digitisation of justice systems through new regulations and the Digital Justice 2030 Strategy,
• Increased financial support via the expanded EU Justice Programme,
• Enhanced judicial training to support modernised and digitalised justice systems,
• Structured dialogue and engagement with member states to address identified deficiencies,
• Use of enforcement mechanisms, including infringement proceedings, where necessary,
• Strengthened protections for victims and other vulnerable groups, and
• Introduction of the Democracy Shield and proposed new AgoraEU

“Across the EU we are working to modernise justice systems, ensuring that they are efficient, resilient, but also inclusive. And digitisation is at the heart of this transformation,” Commissioner McGrath said.

Digital justice

The commissioner referred to Regulation (EU) 2023/2844 on the digitisation of judicial co-operation, which will introduce a European electronic access point, intended to simplify procedures, reduce delays, and improve access to justice.

“This will enable individuals and legal representatives to submit claims and requests in cross-border cases – including applications for legal aid – through a single digital interface.”

The Digital Justice 2030 Strategy, launched in November, “provides a clear roadmap for member states to embrace innovation while safeguarding inclusivity,” the commissioner said.

Measures include the development of online information and reporting tools, digital case-management systems to improve case tracking and efficiency, and the responsible use of AI to support judicial work.

“But let me be clear,” he said, “digitisation must complement, and not replace, human support. It must empower vulnerable groups and certainly not serve to further exclude them from our justice system.”

Training strategy

The European Judicial Training Strategy 2025–2030, also adopted in November, aims to ensure that judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and court staff are equipped to operate in these increasingly digitised systems.

Training priorities include digital case-management, cross-border co-operation tools, and secure communication technologies, “to amplify the impact of our investments and ensure that justice professions are not left behind, allowing greater access to justice, but also improve legal aid across the European Union”.

Commissioner McGrath gave an overview of the revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive, on which political agreement was reached recently between the European Parliament and the EU Council.

“It represents, in my view, a crucial step forward in improving victims' rights in the European Union,” he said, outlining the main proposals:

• Improved access to information and support from first contact with authorities,
• Enhanced helplines and online support services,
• Easier crime reporting, including online and third-party reporting,
• Earlier access to legal aid for victims,
• Improved individual assessment of victims’ needs,
• Better support for victims during court proceedings,
• Stronger protection of victims’ personal data,
• Targeted and integrated support for child victims through multi-agency co-operation, and
• Procedural accommodations to support victims with disabilities.

Legal-aid exclusion

UCD’s Dr Cathryn Costello (small picture) noted Ireland’s poor ranking on the rule-of-law scorecard regarding number of judges per capita, high litigation costs, and the discrepancy between Irish civil legal-aid thresholds and the EU norm.

She also raised the issue of the civil legal-aid blanket exclusion before quasi-judicial bodies, “the main forum for enforcing EU equality rights”.

Dr Costello referred to empirical evidence, such as the FRA reports, which showed race discrimination to be “a particularly serious problem in Ireland and yet, there's effectively no civil legal aid to bring race discrimination cases in Ireland.”

She said that, as an EU lawyer, this was a clear breach of EU law. “And yet, to my knowledge, the commission doesn't join up the rule-of-law agenda, where you have really serious enforcement gaps around EU rights.”

McGrath defends migration pact

The commissioner responded by invoking articles 47 of the EU charter and 19 of the Treaty on European Union, emphasising the commission’s role in measuring, reporting and engaging with member states, supported by both “soft tools” of dialogue and “hard tools” of enforcement, alongside practical support.

He also pointed to renewed momentum on the long-stalled horizontal equal-treatment directive, suggesting that the proposal to withdraw it had provided a “shock to the system”.

In response to what Dr Costello described as the contradiction between the EU’s rule-of-law rhetoric and its asylum regime, Commissioner McGrath defended the EU Migration Pact’s democratic legitimacy.

He stressed its procedural safeguards, including free legal counselling, strengthened information rights, and mandatory independent monitoring, underscoring the commission’s duty to ensure that fundamental rights guarantees were implemented in full, not selectively.