Filenews 10 July 2025
With the passage of four pieces of legislation, including the 21st Amendment to the Constitution by the Plenary Session of the Parliament, a large-scale reform of the structure of the judiciary in Cyprus is being implemented.
All the MPs present voted in favour, except for Limassol MP Andreas Themistocleous, who abstained.
The new regulations aim to speed up the administration of justice and to institutionally discharge the existing judiciary.
The most substantial change concerns the creation of an Administrative Court of Appeal as an autonomous court of second instance, which assumes revision jurisdiction in administrative cases. Thus, the current Court of Appeal will now focus exclusively on civil and criminal cases.
At the same time, the judicial hierarchy is being redefined through the creation of two top judicial bodies with distinct competences. The Supreme Constitutional Court now includes the Administrative Court, the Administrative Court for International Protection and the new Administrative Court of Appeal, while the Supreme Court includes the provincial, special courts and the Court of Appeal.
The reform also includes the establishment of two supreme judicial councils: the Supreme Constitutional Council of the Judiciary, which will be responsible for administrative courts, and the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, which will deal with matters relating to civil and criminal justice. The decisions of each council will be able to be reviewed by the respective appellate body in cases of objection.
In addition, with an amendment to the relevant law, it is provided that pending cases of appellate jurisdiction, which were registered before 31 December 2021 and are in the Court of Appeal without a decision, will be transferred to the Supreme Constitutional Court. A similar provision was adopted for pending appeals against decisions of the Supreme Judicial Council, which will be referred to the Supreme Constitutional Judicial Council.
Significant changes also concern the criteria for appointment to the Supreme Constitutional Court, as combined specialization in Constitutional and Administrative Law is no longer required, but knowledge in one of the two. It also extends the cases in which a judge of the Supreme Court may try a case alone, while it is explicitly stipulated that the judges of the Administrative Court will not be interchangeable.
DISY MP Fotini Tsiridou spoke in favor of the four bills for the reform of the judiciary, noting that DISY "firmly chooses the path of reforms". As he said, this is a reform effort that began years ago with the aim of making the judiciary operate more flexibly, correctly, fairly and efficiently.
He stressed that continuous modernization is needed, stating that the bills under vote are part of a long course of reform, "as befits a European state." Finally, he pointed out that the parliament must demonstrate a policy of consistency and boldness and called on all parties to support the changes, in order to restore citizens' trust in the rule of law.
AKEL MP Aristos Damianou also spoke in favour of the passage of the bills for the reform of the judiciary, stressing that it is a continuation of a long effort based on the Constitution, international obligations and the need to consolidate the rule of law in Cyprus.
He underlined, however, that the reform cannot be fragmentary and modern trends in human rights and first-instance jurisdiction issues must be adopted, where – as he said – "both citizens and justice officials are suffering". He pointed out that a Commercial Court and a Naval Court have been established, which remain inactive, and called on the other two powers to accelerate the pace of implementation of the necessary changes.
DIKO MP Christiana Erotokritou stressed that the amendment of the Constitution is an important step towards improving the functioning of the administrative judicial system and the overall administration of justice. It acknowledged, however, that the previous reform effort had not yielded the expected results.
He called on the political forces to show unity and sincere will to initiate a substantial reform that will strengthen the rule of law and the administration of justice on the ground.
CNA
