Londers, Ghislain --- "Working conditions" [2014] ELECD 963; in , Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union (ed), "Regulating Judicial Activity in Europe" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014) 24

Book Title: Regulating Judicial Activity in Europe

Editor(s): , Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783478927

Section: Chapter 2

Section Title: Working conditions

Author(s): Londers, Ghislain

Number of pages: 15

Abstract/Description:

Question 6. How is the salary, including pensions, fixed, increased or decreased and by whom? Are judges awarded bonuses or any other advantages (car, lodging, etc.) and by whom? What is the annual salary (including pensions and bonuses) of a Supreme Court judge? How does this compare with the salary (including pensions and bonuses) of other state officials? 1. The way salaries and other financial benefits as well as pensions are fixed and, in some cases, modified, is closely linked to the general problem of the degree of independence enjoyed by judges. In this respect a good example is the conflict between judges and public authorities in Slovenia regarding judges’ salaries, in which the Constitutional Court has already twice intervened, finding the various legal provisions regulating the salary system in the public sector and the law on judicial organization unconstitutional, the latter being considered incompatible with the indispensable independence of judges. This fundamental issue comes rather under Question 1, in Chapter 1 ‘Protection of Independence’ and will therefore not be further discussed in this Report. 2. From a reading of the different national reports three systems for determining and modulating judges’ salaries may be identified. 2.1. In the vast majority of cases, judges’ salaries are fixed by law, in other words following an act of the legislator (Parliament).