Confidence in Austria's Judiciary Remains High, But Challenges Remain
The Austrian public's confidence in the independence of the judiciary remains considerable. The latest EU Justice Scoreboard 2025 once again confirms this position in terms of the efficiency, quality, and independence of its judiciary.
The Austrian judiciary is pleased with the results of this year's EU Justice Scoreboard. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Thomas Ledl / CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)
According to recent reports from the EU Justice Scoreboard, around 90 percent of people in this country have a “very good” or “fairly good” impression of the independence of courts and judges, as shown in this year's Justice Scoreboard published by the European Commission. Austria ranks second in the EU, behind Finland. In contrast, trust in the judiciary is significantly lower in countries such as Poland, Croatia, and Bulgaria, with values between 20 and 30 percent.
At the presentation of the report, Justice Minister Anna Sporrer expressed her delight at the results and announced that the Austrian judiciary not only works, “it is also extremely effective and serves the people of our country daily. I am very pleased about the continued high level of trust the population has in our judiciary.”
“The fact that Austria is among the top performers in the EU Justice Scoreboard year after year, particularly concerning trust in courts and judicial authorities, is the direct result of the tremendous commitment of all judicial staff. I would like to express my sincere thanks for this. Together, we will continue to work to ensure that our judiciary remains a flagship for efficiency, quality, and independence,” said Minister Sporrer.
Austria overtakes Denmark in terms of independence
A particularly pleasing result of the EU Justice Scoreboard is Austria's improvement from third to second place in terms of public perception of the independence of the judiciary. This means that Austria has overtaken Denmark and consolidated its position as one of the countries with the highest level of public trust in its judicial systems.
The report also highlights that Austria, ranked fifth, continues to be among the absolute leaders compared to most other EU member states when it comes to the length of civil proceedings. This is remarkable given that Austria has the second highest number of civil proceedings filed within the EU. This underscores the exceptional efficiency of the Austrian courts.
Important tool for comparing justice systems in the EU
The EU Justice Scoreboard, which has been published by the European Commission for twelve years now, has become an indispensable tool for comparing European justice systems. It promotes European cooperation in the field of the rule of law and justice. By providing objective, reliable, and comparable data, the report helps to identify areas for improvement in terms of the independence, efficiency, and quality of EU justice systems.