• Case C-64/16 Associacao Sindical Dos Juizes Portugueses (The Portuguese Judges Case) [27 Feb 2018] concerned the challenging of national measures where they violate the provisions of European Union Treaties – even where the national measure in question is not regulated by Community law or the Charter, providing effective judicial protection.

Facts of Case C-64/16 Associacao Sindical Dos Juizes Portugueses, (The Portuguese Judges Case) [27 Feb 2018]

  • Portuguese law temporarily reduced the remuneration of office holders and employees in the public sector
  • The salary management measures reduced the remuneration of judges sitting in the Court of Auditors
  • The representatives for these judges brought a special administrative action before the Portuguese Supreme Administrative Court, seeking annulment of the measures and repayment of the sums withheld (salaries plus interest), alongside declaration the persons involved will received their salaries in full
  • It was argued that the national measure infringed the principle of judicial independence, as per the Portuguese Constitution, and Article 19(1) TEU and Article 47 of the Charter
  • The Supreme Court referred to the CJEU, the preliminary question of whether the requirement of the principle of judicial independence preclude the measures imposed to reduce remuneration

Issues in Case C-64/16 Associacao Sindical Dos Juizes Portugueses, (The Portuguese Judges Case) [27 Feb 2018]

  • Would the measures, imposed unilaterally, be upheld by the European Court of Justice
  • Or does the principle of judicial independence preclude this matter and effectively exclude the judges from the salary-reduction measures?

Held by the European Court of Justice

The national measures did not undermine (violate) the principle by application on judicial members.

Findings of the Court

Article 19 TEU – is it interpreted to allow the principle of judicial independence to preclude the national measures on reducing salaries?

  • “the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU … provision relates to ‘the fields covered by Union law’, irrespective of whether the Member States are implementing Union law, within the meaning of Article 51(1) of the Charter.” [29]
  • The article “gives concrete expression to the value of the rule of law stated in Article 2 TEU”, entrusting “the responsibility for ensuring judicial review in the EU legal order not only to the Court of Justice but also to national courts and tribunals” [32]

Consequently, in the present case:

  • It is for the Member State to “ensure that that court meets the requirements essential to effective judicial protection, in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 19(1) TEU.” [40]
  • The measures concerned were not specific to the courts, but were (contrastingly) “in the nature of general measures seeking a contribution from all members of the national public administration to the austerity effort dictated by the mandatory requirements for reducing the Portuguese State’s excessive budget deficit.” [49]
  • Article 19 therefore does not preclude “general salary-reduction measures, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, linked to requirements to eliminate an excessive budget deficit and to an EU financial assistance programme, from being applied to the members of the Tribunal de Contas (Court of Auditors)” [52]

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