Gwladys Laffitte, edited by Wassila Belhacine
modified to
6:01 p.m., March 28, 2022
The first round of the presidential election is in two weeks and some topics are missing from the debate. Justice is one of them. Apart from a few scattered proposals, the theme is not really taken in hand by the candidates. To compensate for the lack of debate, the Paris Bar Association began on Monday a poster campaign and the publication of a manifesto of the Paris Bar in order to question the candidates for the presidential election on the urgent reform for justice. Inside, ten proposals are detailed.
“What do you propose to restore confidence in justice and strengthen its efficiency?”
Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen and four other major candidates appear, on photo montages, in period costume, period of the Ancien Régime. They are dressed in velvet and gilding. A slogan is displayed on the photos: “Justice is not a privilege. What do you propose to restore confidence in Justice and strengthen its efficiency?”
The manifesto makes several proposals to be submitted to public debate, such as: the establishment of a moratorium on any new reform in matters of civil procedure (made extremely complex by the inflation of standards over the past fifteen years, detriment of lawyers, but above all of litigants themselves), the considerable increase in the human and financial resources necessary for the functioning of justice or even the strengthening of knowledge of legal aid systems for the most disadvantaged.
“We need a real shock of means”
According to Julie Couturier, president of Paris, the candidates for the election do not grasp the subject enough: “Perhaps justice gets in the way in certain respects, perhaps also magic money does not exist. needs a real clash of means, and a much stronger and much more lasting consideration. Justice will not live without means and without ideas.”
The President of Paris agrees that the Estates General of Justice were a good signal, but she believes that we should go further, reform, simplify and above all further increase the budget allocated to justice. In five years, 30% more budget has been allocated to justice, but France still remains far behind its European neighbors.
According to the latest figures, only four euros out of 1,000 of public expenditure are dedicated to justice.
