Greece ranks last in EU for length of judicial proceedings, says 2025 justice scoreboard
According to the 2025 EU Justice Scoreboard published by the European Commission on Tuesday, July 1, Greece ranks last among EU member states in terms of the time required for justice to be served.
The scoreboard, which assesses the efficiency, quality, and independence of justice systems across the EU, also includes public perceptions of judicial independence. In Greece, only 30% of respondents consider the judiciary to be independent or functioning well – well below the EU average of 54%. Meanwhile, 26% of respondents said judicial independence was “very bad” and 34% labeled it “bad.”
Concerns about political interference in judicial processes were also evident in the survey. Of those who believe the system performs poorly, 53% cited “very high” interference by government and politicians, while 25% said such interference was “quite high.”
In response to the findings, Halit Habipoğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), issued a strong statement:
“Trust in the judiciary, as shown by the EU Justice Scoreboard, is practically nonexistent. As the Turkish community in Western Thrace, we have firsthand experience of how flawed our justice system is. The domestic legal process for the closure of our Xanthi Turkish Union lasted 22 years. The group of cases known as the Bekir Usta and Others has seen European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings ignored for 17 years.
Political interference is not just a perception—it’s a reality. We’ve seen it in the rulings against our Bekir Usta case group, in the closure of our Fenerbahçe cultural association, and in the denial of legal status to the Xanthi Turkish Women’s Cultural Association.
The EU sees what we see—this Justice Scoreboard will be reflected in the European Commission’s Rule of Law report. Greece’s leaders must abandon this flawed concept of justice and, as a first step, implement the ECHR rulings in the Bekir Usta case.”
The findings raise significant concerns for rule of law advocates across Europe and will likely influence upcoming EU evaluations of member states' judicial systems.
