They were more than a thousand, magistrates, lawyers, clerks, prison supervisors or directors, educators of the judicial protection of young people, police officers, bailiffs, elected officials or even law students, gathered at the Palais des Congrès du Futuroscope in Poitiers for the launch of the Estates General of Justice, Monday, October 18. Emmanuel Macron asked them to “Do not forbid oneself no subject, no field, no daring” during the 120 days of debates that he calls for throughout the country, in all of society.
According to the President of the Republic, probable candidate for his own succession, “There is an urgent need to renew the link between justice and those in whose name it is rendered”. Beyond this question of trust, it is access to the law and the efficiency of justice that must be guaranteed.
Mr. Macron justified the need for this exercise of overhauling the “System” by the fact that the many reforms of recent years have been juxtaposed. Now, he hammered, “Marginal improvements are no longer enough”. He took the assembly to witness excerpts from a radio-sidewalk on justice presented at the opening in which the words clicked “Unfair”, “inaccessible”, “complicated”, “lax”, “absolute slowness”. On stage, six people had come to testify about their experience, like this grandmother who had to wait three years for the family court judge to decide whether or not she would be entitled to see her two grandchildren whom her daughter refused to entrust to her. .
Reform of criminal procedure
To guarantee the independence and rigor with which the proposals that will emerge from this major national consultation will be selected, assessed and formulated by the end of February 2022, Mr. Macron has entrusted this work to a commission chaired by Jean-Marc Sauvé , just released from the work of the commission on sexual offenses in the church. The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, who has very strong ideas on the reforms he would dream of, such as the split of the body of the judiciary between the magistrates of the public prosecutor’s office (those who direct the investigations and bring the accusation to the trials ) and those of the seat (those who settle a dispute or judge the guilt of a man and decide on the sanction), will not have a voice in the chapter of the conclusions reached by these States General.
If the sheet given to the participants in this exercise is blank, the Head of State nevertheless gave indications on Monday on the themes he wishes to see moving forward. The subject of the responsibility of magistrates came up several times in his speech. It is, according to him, the counterpart of the independence of the judicial authority. He welcomed the recent proposals made by the Superior Council of the Judiciary to broaden the possibilities of questioning this responsibility. But, for him, the subject is not closed.
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