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Strasbourg/Brussels – The Czech Republic made some progress in the past year regarding the remuneration of judges and prosecutors. Partial successes were also recorded in efforts to shorten the length of proceedings. The European Commission stated this in its annual report on the rule of law in the member states of the European Union today. Despite progress in some areas, however, the EC points out that there are shortcomings in the Czech Republic concerning the investigation of high-level corruption and also the transparency of media ownership.
The Union’s executive, as in previous years, divided the assessment into four chapters dedicated to judicial systems, the fight against corruption, media plurality, and overall institutional control and balance.
“New rules increasing judges’ salaries have been adopted starting in 2026, and prosecutors’ salaries have also seen a slight increase. The digitalization of courts is generally progressing, video conferencing is well established and further supported by recent legislative changes, although the implementation of the e-file system has been further delayed,” states the report concerning the Czech Republic, which is 23 pages long. According to the Commission, the judicial system in the Czech Republic operates effectively and there is further improvement in the time taken to resolve cases. However, there are still gaps.
Therefore, the Union’s executive recommends that the Czech Republic “take further measures to shorten the length of proceedings and ensure the independence of investigations and prosecutions in cases of high-level corruption, and also to restart the review of conflict of interest legislation.”
A problematic area remains the transparency of media ownership, where, according to the Commission, no progress has been recorded. “The police are making increased efforts to address cases of attacks on journalists, but harassment of journalists online remains a problem,” the report states. (July 8)