EU’s top court clarifies rules on judge selection

BRUSSELS (CN) — The European Union’s top court rejected a complaint from a former Lithuanian judge on Monday, finding that countries are free to nominate judges to the European Court of Justice so long as they are qualified.

Although a group of experts ranked Virgilijus Valančius the best candidate for the position, the Lithuanian government opted for another person on the list. The Luxembourg-based ECJ said, in a ruling in French, that the move didn’t violate EU law.

The 55-year-old jurist was appointed to the EU’s lower General Court in 2016 and continued serving, even after his term expired in 2019, while the appointment process was ongoing. In 2021, the government put out a public call for candidates and later that year the selection committee put Valančius’ name at the top of the list.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda rejected Valančius and, with parliamentary approval, put forward the second candidate, Tomas Davulis, the dean of Vilnius University’s Faculty of Law.

Valančius filed suit against the government in the capital, Vilnius, arguing he should have been selected.

It’s unclear why the government rejected Valančius. In an interview with Baltic News Service at the time, Nausėda said that “other candidates appeared to be better prepared for the post.”

“Other candidates will be proposed and we’ll see how the process ends,” he said.

Judges proposed by member states must be approved by the so-called 255 Committee, referring to the article in the Treaty of Lisbon that created the vetting procedure. In 2022, the committee — which does not make public its reasoning — rejected Davulis.

The Lithuanian government moved to the third name on the list, Saulius Kalėda. The committee approved him and he took his seat in 2023.

The Lithuanian court referred the matter to Luxembourg, saying European law was unclear.

The EU’s highest court found no fault with Lithuania’s move.

“The fact that the committee provided for in Article 255 TFEU expressed a favorable opinion on the candidate proposed by the Lithuanian government who was listed third on that merit list confirms that the decision of the governments of the member states to appoint that candidate complies with the requirements,” the 15-judge panel wrote.

The decision is final and cannot be appealed.

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