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FederikaVIAPIANA,

Research Fellow ,Judicial Systems Research Institute , National Research Council of Italy, Candidate of Law Sciences of the Montaigne Center for the Rule of Law and Administration of Justice, Utrecht University

FUNDING THE JUDICIARY: HOW BUDGETING SYSTEM SHAPES JUSTICE? A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THREE CASE STUDIES

This paper addresses the topic of court budgeting, focusing on three cases studies: Finland, France, and the Netherlands, which have experienced different ways of “performance-based” budget for the judiciary. The first part of the research, to which this article belongs, will provide a description of budgeting and funding mechanisms in countries that have implemented a performance-based budget, comparing three case studies, focussing on: assessing budget needs, budget appropriation processes, indicators and criteria used for budget allocation, relation between performance indicators and funding, court presidents’ or court boards leeway to manage resources, policies and practices to balance judicial independence and accountability. The second part will be aimed at analysing the impact of the budgeting process on the functioning of the judiciary in the three countries, concerning three dimensions: allocative efficiency, organization development, and values; and three levels of analysis: national, court, and single judge. The study will be dealt with data analysis, documents review, online questionnaires and semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts from the selected countries. Consequences of the budgeting system on the judiciary are manifold. The change in budgeting approach can affect the organizational development, at national level (change in the judicial system governance settings, for example, the creation of a Court Administration Agency for the Judiciary in Finland), at court level (e.g. the creation of a management board for each court in The Netherlands), and at the single judge level (e.g. changes in the case assignment system, pressure to increase productivity, individualistic or team oriented approach, commitment to the court).

Key words: performance-based budget, court management, judicial administration, judicial performance, judicial independence.

References

European Network of Council for the Judiciary (ENCJ) (2016). Funding the judiciary. URL:https://www.encj.eu/images/stories/pdf/workinggroups/encj_2015_2016_report_funding_judiciary_adopted_ga.kkkpdf [engl.]

Part of the information presented in this paper have been initially collected during a round table organized by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice of the Council of Europe and the Court Administration of Latvia, in Riga in November 2017 [russ.]

ECHR 2017 Public Governance Directorate Budgeting and Performance in the European Union. A review in the context of EU Budget Focused on Results [engl.]

Interviews with Ministry of Finance an Ministry of Justice in Finland. 27 August 2018 [engl.]

OECD (2007). Improving Public Sector Effficiency: Challanges and opportunities. Paris: OECD Journal on Budgeting Vol. 7 n. 1 [engl.]

Lannaud B. (2007) Performance in the New French Budget System, in Marc Robinson, Performance Budgeting. Linking funding and results[russ.]

http://www.vie-publique.fr/decouverte-institutions/finances-publiques/ressources-depenses-etat/budget/quelles-sont-etapes-elaboration-adoption-loifinances.html [fr.]

Wittrup (2010) distinguishes two models: the traditional “Ministry of Justice model”, where the budget is managed and allocated by the MoJ, and the more recent “Council model”, where the budget is managed and allocated to a more or less independent body, that can be either the Judicial Council or an agency for Court Administration [engl.]

Interview with Kari Kieslaninen (Ministry of Justice in Finland). 27 august 2018 [engl.]

Interview with Jyri Inha (Ministry of Finance in Finland). 27 august 2018 [engl.]

Interview with Tuomas Nurmi (President of the Helsinki district court). 28 August 2017 [engl.]

Interview with Tuomas Nurmi (President of the Helsinki district court). 28 August 2017 [engl.]

Interview with Jos Puts (Council for the Judiciary in the Nether-lands). 11 April 2018

URL: https://english.rekenkamer.nl/publications/reports/2016 [engl.]