Council of Europe 2018 report evaluates efficiency, quality of justice system

Georgia is among 27 states which increased their judicial system budget between 2014 and 2016, with a growth rate of 1.4%.

Agenda.ge, 05 Oct 2018 - 12:40, Tbilisi,Georgia

The Council of Europe has published a new report on the judicial systems of European states, including Georgia.

The report shows that Georgia allocates 9,70 EUR per inhabitant to its judicial system while the European average of the budget allocated to the judicial system per inhabitant in 2016 is 64 EUR and the median is 53 EUR.

While comparing the budget of different countries the study takes into consideration two factors: the exchange rates and the inflation / deflation rates.

For the period of study (2014-2016), significant depreciations of the local currency was observed in Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine. The local currency depreciated in Georgia by 22% while inflation increased by 10.1%.

In 2016 Georgia's approved budget for the whole justice system was  307,352,699 EUR while approved budget of the judicial system was 101,225,656 EUR.

It should be noted that the budget of judicial systems is the sum of the budget allocated to courts, legal aid and public prosecution services.

Georgia is among 27 states which increased their judicial system budget between 2014 and 2016, with a growth rate of 1.4%.

"However, the growing burden of the judicial system is even more considering the negative differences in exchange rates between 2014 and 2016 in Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Poland, Sweden and UK-Scotland," the study says.

It also emphasises that in Georgia, Moldova and Poland, the growing budgetary efforts in favour of the courts are even more significant than they appear, considering the negative variation in exchange rates between 2014 and 2016.

In Georgia, Italy, Malta and Poland, a significant increase in the judicial budget was due to the expansion of legal service aid. The study says that Georgia emphasises its commitment, since 2015, to promoting legal assistance in family and social assistance issues.

The report was prepared by the Council of Europe's body, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ). It covers 45 of the 47 Council of Europe member states (all except Liechtenstein and San Marino) and is based on data up through 2016.