Judicial Independence in Europe: Threat or Resource for Democracy?

The past few decades have seen a general expansion of the power of courts. Judges have begun to play an increasingly significant role in the policy process of most democratic regimes. Even in Europe, where judges were once considered to be politically passive, this development has emerged, strongly supported by institutional reforms introducing forms of constitutional review and stronger guarantees of judicial independence. However, the reforms implemented so far have not always met initial expectations. They have been often implemented without taking into account all their organisational implications. In fact, stronger judicial independence calls for increased selectivity in the recruitment of judges.