We have been hearing about the need for reform of the legal system and the legal service for many years now. No matter how many times this is mentioned in reports by the European Commission and surveys of the Council of Europe, progress is extremely slow. Despite attempts to reform the system, the administration of justice moves at a snail’s pace, court cases still subject to countless postponements and taking years to complete.

On Wednesday the House institutions committee, as has become the yearly tradition, discussed the European Commission’s latest report on rule of law, which called on the government to complete the reform of the legal service which has been in the pipeline for several years now. These reforms would introduce greater accountability to the office of the attorney-general, which has the constitutional power to take decisions about stopping prosecutions without offering any explanation.

This is complex reform, changing the powers and the role of the legal service is not something that could be done through summary procedures. The government, according to the under-secretary to the president, Irini Piki, had submitted reform bills to the legislature last year, but these have yet to be discussed. She also said that amendments dealing with shortcomings in recently passed legislation had also been prepared and would be tabled in the next few months.

Considering that the reform drive for the legal service only commenced in the last year, it would be unrealistic to expect it to be completed so soon. As regards the delays in the administering of justice, which the Commission’s report also referred to, the reform which started during the Anastasiades presidency, had not produced the desired results. New courts have been set up so that the load of work does not fall on just one court, more judges were appointed and trial procedures were changed in order to minimise delays.

The backlog of cases may have been reduced, but this has not yet cut the long delays that plagued the justice system. In fact, a representative of the Bar Association argued that the delays contributed to the dramatic reduction (as much as 80 per cent) in the registering of new cases. This is perfectly understandable considering the time people wait for a case to be heard. The costs keep running – lawyers charge for appearances even if the hearing is postponed 10 times – and in the end it might be cheaper for someone to reach an out of court agreement.

We do not know what the solution is. The annual budget for the courts has increased significantly since 2022, when it was €40m; by 2028, one deputy said it was expected to be €70m. Spending more money has not had the desire effect nor has the advent of digitalisation. Hopefully some progress will be reported by next year when the new report on the rule of law is issued.