NICOSIA— The Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs has discussed proposals aimed at addressing persistent delays in the administration of justice, a long-standing issue in Cyprus.
Committee Chair Nicos Tornaritis, a lawmaker from the Democratic Rally (DISY), emphasized that timely justice is a cornerstone of democracy and essential for the protection of human rights.
Representatives from the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the Cyprus Bar Association, the Legal Service, and the Observatory of Economic Law participated in the meeting. Tornaritis requested written submissions outlining specific problems, proposed solutions, and implementation timelines.
The committee plans to reconvene to assess how these proposals can be translated into action, including infrastructure upgrades and staffing needs to accelerate judicial processes.
In a written statement, Tornaritis also referenced the European Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law Report, which highlights a decline in public perception of judicial independence compared to 2024.
According to the report, the average time to resolve civil and commercial cases in first-instance courts dropped from 761 days in 2022 to 605 in 2023. However, Cyprus still ranks among the slowest in the EU. More concerning, the average duration for administrative appeals reached 5,429 days in 2023 — more than double the previous year and the highest in Europe.