“We are not able to be up to it. “The report, made Friday afternoon by Stéphane Noël, president of the Paris court, is final. The magistrate does not need to list many figures to show the impasse in which his jurisdiction finds itself: planned to operate with 366 magistrates, it currently only has 338 if we take into account sick leave, leave maternity or part-time. The activity, however, is not slowing down. Quite the contrary. At the prosecution, for example, the number of complaints has increased by almost 37% since 2020, 20% if we refer to 2019 which was not affected by the pandemic. “We are very, very far from a justice repaired or in good working order”, insists the president, in reference to the polemical remarks of the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti.
Ordinarily, the solemn hearings at the start of the school year are relatively agreed, codified moments, during which the heads of jurisdiction take stock of the past year and the prospects for the one to come. But this year, in the midst of an earthquake caused by the “3,000” platform, they took on a different color. More political, more committed. From Grenoble to Nantes, from Aix-en-Provence to Orléans, the suffering of the magistrates was at the center of the speeches. How could it have been otherwise, when we know that two thirds of the 9,000 magistrates subscribed to the report drawn up by nine young judges after the suicide of one of their own: exhaustion, loss of meaning, feeling of constantly having to to arbitrate between quality and quantity to lock out the “stocks” of ongoing cases… An unprecedented movement which led this body – despite being bound by the duty of reserve – to go on strike in mid-December.
A crisis “that no one can deny”
If the movement is mainly carried by young magistrates, it is amply supported by its hierarchy. Symbol among symbols: on January 10, during the back-to-school hearing of the highest French court, François Molins, public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, drew up the report of a crisis “that no one can deny” , of “untenable working conditions” which causes “suffering”. A speech described as “scandalous” by Eric Dupond-Moretti.
At the ministry, it is recalled that, since the beginning of the five-year term, 650 magistrates and 850 additional clerks have been assigned to the courts, and that 2,000 contract workers have been hired in one year. In 2022, the National School of the Judiciary will even experience its largest promotion since its creation. Above all, we insist on the “historic” increase in the justice budget over the past two years: twice 8%, for 2021 and 2022.
All the magistrates recognize, these reinforcements are “precious”. At the Paris court, for example, 104 “judge’s assistants” arrived this year to support magistrates. But at the same time, the number of honorary magistrates (retired magistrates who continue to serve the judiciary) has almost been halved since January 2020. “We must be part of a systemic reform not just in temporary recruitments” , insists Stéphane Noël. According to the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, France has three prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants when the European average is 11.25. Similarly, there are 10.9 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, against 21.4 for our neighbours.
“Render justice within a reasonable time”
A difference that has concrete effects on litigants. Thus, in the jurisdiction of the Paris Court of Appeal – which has nine courts – the hearing of assize trials has become particularly problematic: the “stock” of 321 cases pending at the end of 2020 has now reached almost 500. strengthen the “number of magistrates of the seat up to 30%” (with the exception of the Paris court) to “deliver quality justice within a reasonable time”, estimated during the solemn hearing Jean-Michel Hayat, his first President.
“We could almost transpose the words “health” by “justice” and “doctors” by “magistrates””, added during this same hearing Rémy Heitz, public prosecutor near the Paris Court of Appeal. If he considers that a reflection can be carried out on the “distribution of work” and management, this would not be enough to resolve the situation. Rémy Heitz thus considers it necessary to generalize assistants to magistrates, so that the latter are “focused on their core business”.
The magistrate, who took office in September, recognizes this bluntly: he wondered for a long time about the advisability of signing the platform before giving it up. “I would have had the feeling of being a bit of a demagogue or of recovering because what is described is a feeling that emanates from the field. But I am intellectually in union with this platform and what is described there, ”he insists.
At the end of the year, he received all the judges placed – magistrates whose function is to replace their colleagues in the event of absence or leave – from his jurisdiction. The vast majority confided to him the dilemma in which they felt: to judge quickly but badly or well but within unacceptable delays. Some have expressed their desire to change their professional orientation. “Ten years ago, the questions were not of this nature,” he says. It is the future of the judiciary that is at stake. »