Francisca Van Dunem may turn out to be just what Portugal’s decrepit justice system needs.
The newly appointed Minister of Justice has the full backing of the country’s magistrates and judges, who point to her in-depth knowledge of the Portuguese justice system and its many problems which include a 4 million case backlog, as of this January, in a country of 10.5 million people.
The choice of Francisca Van Dunem as Justice Minister in the new António Costa socialist government has been well received by unions, and expectations are high but whether she can make any dent at all in the monumental backlog of cases remains to be seen.
The President of the Union of Prosecutors considered it a "good choice": "she is an experienced magistrate, with industry knowledge," adding that Francisca Van Dunem has held several important positions in the Public Ministry and currently is the District Attorney General of Lisbon.
Pressing issues are the lack of judges with 150 retiring next year, unpicking the Citius court and case management system which still does not function as it should and the vast caseload backlog which puts many people off from using the legal system, and those within it facing years of delays before cases are even scheduled for hearing.
Another challenge is one brought about by the reorganisation of the courts system by Van Dunem’s predecessor, Paula Teixeira da Crux, who shut down many courts that served widely dispersed communities.
Teixeira da Cruz's period in ministerial office can be described as a failure, mainly due to the Citius computer system failing to work and her management style which included blaming everyone but herself for a series of mistakes and poor performance. The justice system under da Cruz was no better after she left than when she started.
Under the reorganisation, Citizens have been forced to travel long distances to access justice, with many unable to afford of complete journeys.
Francisca Van Dunem, an Angolan and Portuguese passport holder, was one of the welcome surprises in the António Costa line-up. Her Angolan background may come in useful in Operation Marquês, Operation Mont Blanc and the continuing investigations into BES-Angola where the sudden evaporation of nearly €4 billion exposed the sham that was Grupo Espírito Santo, a business that later collapsed.
The new minister's real challenge is to process the embarassingly large pile of unheard cases, or work out a way of fast-tracking them in order to restore some faith in the Portuguese justice system which has become a joke both internally and outside the country.
