N10.T7 – SUPREME COURT – HIGHEST EFFICIENCY RATE IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS, TWICE AS MANY CASES RESOLVED THAN BEFORE
HRA NEWSLETTER 10 – TOPIC 7
In the first half of 2025, the Supreme Court of Montenegro resolved more cases than it received during the first six months, achieving twice as good a result compared to previous years.
“From January to June 2025, the Supreme Court received 2,108 new cases and had a total of 4,093 cases in progress, of which 2,493 were resolved, while 1,597 cases (39 percent) remained unresolved,” the Supreme Court announced.
These results indicate that for the first time in the last five years, an efficiency rate of 118.2 percent was achieved, despite three judicial positions being vacant in the court.
The Supreme Court notes that this result was achieved “despite limited and insufficient spatial capacities, as well as poor and unsatisfactory material and financial conditions for judges.”
“This performance represents an important step toward restoring citizens’ trust in the judiciary and serves as additional motivation for all judges, despite the fact that the promise of salary increases has still not been fulfilled,” said Supreme Court President Valentina Pavličić, calling on the legislative and executive branches to resolve issues important for the professional and material status of judges and court staff.
Recall that the latest report by the specialized body of the Council of Europe — the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) — stated that during 2022, the Montenegrin judiciary was unresponsive and that the situation had significantly worsened compared to the earlier period. It was established that Montenegro was the only country among 46 analyzed states where an increased inflow of cases was accompanied by poorer court efficiency. It was noted then that the backlog of cases in civil and commercial disputes at the Supreme Court of Montenegro was the highest in Europe (93%)!
The Executive Director of the NGO Human Rights Action, Tea Gorjanc-Prelević, told Vijesti earlier that the CEPEJ report “placed the problem of the Montenegrin judiciary in a European perspective and pointed out that the situation is extremely alarming compared to other European countries.”
“This situation does not help Montenegro’s EU accession process,” Gorjanc-Prelević told Vijesti.
She warned that “the next CEPEJ report will again classify Montenegro among countries with worryingly inefficient judiciaries,” and that such a situation does not aid Montenegro’s EU accession process. Gorjanc-Prelević emphasized the urgent need for action through the appointment of missing judges, advisors, and trainees, amendments to the law, improving working conditions, and increasing salaries.
The Council of Europe’s 2022 report also noted that, at the European level, the Administrative Court of Montenegro recorded the largest decline in efficiency, with a drop of 89%.
English