The meeting lasted a little over three hours. This Friday morning, the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, received a delegation of around thirty magistrates and clerks who signed a platform published at the beginning of the week in The world denouncing their working conditions and the growing unease within this profession. During this round table, the latter gave “moving, very strong testimonies, in particular on their workload, their working conditions”, assured the Minister of Justice during a short press briefing.
A discussion “without filter” that Eric Dupond-Moretti wishes to renew. “The institutional dialogue with the Chancellery is of course carried out with the heads of courts and jurisdictions and, without denying this absolutely essential dialogue, it is essential that we also be as close and as close as possible to the field. We will therefore see each other very soon, ”he insisted.
“We reiterated the observations on the ground”
When they left, only the authors of the forum, originally signed by 3,000 magistrates and which now has 5,500 signatures – more than half of the profession – briefly spoke. “During the meeting with the Keeper of the Seals, we reiterated the field findings which appear there,” they indicated. And to specify: “We hope that the alert which we launched will be heard and that we will perceive significant changes in our courts for the interest of our litigants. “
In this forum, the signatories denounced in particular “a justice which mistreats litigants, but also those who work for its functioning, clerks and magistrates”. Overloaded or even rushed hearings, untenable work schedules, increasing sickness leave… All of them detailed the “untenable dilemma” they are confronted with: “Judge quickly but badly, or judge well but within unacceptable deadlines. »Subjects discussed at length this Friday morning.
The Keeper of the Seals will also receive representatives of the heads of courts and jurisdictions on this subject on Monday afternoon. He had also invited, Tuesday, professional associations of magistrates. But the latter said in a statement Friday that they had refused this “initiative consisting in [les] summon in haste ”.