Portugal's new 'judicial map' is failing due to lack of staff

Editor 02 December 2014

dacruz Three months after the launch of the new ‘judicial map’ under the control of the Ministry for Justice there are still some problems.

Software failures in the new Citius software programme and the lack of judicial officials to run the courts system are the main gripes from the secretary-general of the Trade Union Association of Portuguese Judges, Maria José Costeira, and the president of the Judicial Officers Union, Fernando Jorge.

Both officials agree that in terms of the new management model for the courts, each of the new judicial regions are working in isolation from the others despite the Citius system being designed to join up the court network and speed up the justice process.

To address the labour problem, the ASJP already has asked the Superior Council of Magistrates for help in standardising issues related to staff vacation and substituting judges.

The president of the Association of Prosecutors, Rui Cardoso, said today that the problems detected in the Citius computer system when it was installed in the country’s courts are being overcome and gradually resolved by the Ministry of Justice under Paula Teixeira da Cruz.

Another problem is the actual court buildings with planned renovations in Loures still on the drawing board and the court in Faro still operating from a series of Portakabins while the old court building is refurbished.

Fernando Jorge says that court staffing is about 1,000 below the number necessary, which according to Rui Cardoso, represents probably the most serious problem because this affects the proper functioning of the courts.

Jorge said that the Ministry of Justice has not been able to start the recruitment process for more staff as the request has been held up at the Ministry of Finance which must authorise the expenditure.

Maria Jose Costeira said that there still exist deficiencies in the Citius computer system, especially with cases that have yet to be entered into the system, in particular some bankruptcy cases that were due to heard in the commercial courts. This seems also to be the case for many debt enforcement actions, to the delight of the debtors.

With the long overdue judicial reforms, the country was divided into 23 districts, each with a central court in the district capital. Alongside this reorganisation, the Citius court and case management system was introduced but failed to function at all for six weeks thus further delaying the country’s caseload backlog.

Justice Minister Paula Teixeira da Cruz faced calls for her resignation during the Citius compuertisation crisis and certainly lost control of the reins for a time, developing the bad habit of blaming others rather than taking responsibility for the project that at the end of the day is hers and hers alone.