WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2866/96 by Alex SMITH to the Commission. Legal aid
Date: 1996-10-25
Institutions: European Parliament, SMITH ALEX
Subjects: EU law, European citizenship, access to the courts, freedom to provide services, fundamental rights, legal aid, national law, right of establishment, right to justice













EUR-Lex - 91996E2866 - EN






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91996E2866

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 2866/96 by Alex SMITH to the Commission. Legal aid  


Official Journal C 072 , 07/03/1997 P. 0084 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-2866/96 by Alex Smith (PSE) to the Commission (25 October 1996)Subject: Legal aidGiven the Commission's reply to Written Question E-2388/96 ((OJ C 60, 26.02.1997. )), does it consider it to be an acceptable situation that Member States can prevent EU citizens accessing justice (including rights given to them by EU laws) through reducing access to legal aid?Answer given by Mrs Gradin on behalf of the Commission (29 November 1996)As the Parliament has suggested on several occasions, access to justice is a right of the citizen in any democratic society. It is a corollary of the freedoms guaranteed by the EC Treaty that a citizen must be able, in order to resolve disputes arising from his activities while exercising any of those freedoms, to bring actions in the courts of a Member State in the same way as nationals of that Member State. In many circumstances, such right to have access to justice can be effectively exercised only when legal aid is granted under given conditions.National legislation governing eligibility for legal aid affects the ability of a Community citizen established in another Member State to defend his interests in the host Member State and must be examined in the light of the Treaty's provisions concerning the fundamental freedoms of workers, freedom of establishment or freedom to provide services. In this sense, a request for legal aid denied on the grounds of nationality would not be compatible with the exercise of these fundamental rights of the internal market. When the request is denied on other grounds, it is necessary to see whether, and in what circumstances, such national legislation, applicable without distinction and regardless of nationality, could constitute an unjustifiable obstacle to freedom of establishment or freedom to provide services.Whilst in the absence of Community legislation, it is for each Member State's legal system to lay down the detailed procedural rules to safeguard the rights which individuals derive from Community law, such legislative provisions may neither discriminate against those to whom Community law gives the right to equal treatment nor restrict the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by Community law. This is the basis on which the Commission examines whether, under given circumstances, national legislation on eligibility for legal aid restricts fundamental freedoms guaranteed by Community law.Under the provisions of Title VI of the Treaty on European Union, judicial cooperation in civil matters is regarded as an issue of common interest, whatever the nature of the rights for which cooperation is required.It is in this context that an initiative on legal aid is included in the Commission's work programme for 1997.