The European Court of Justice (ECJ) attracted 2,300 visitors keen to have a closer look at the institution.
The Court was founded more than 70 years ago. In 1973, the first building in Kirchberg was inaugurated and has been expanded several times since. The largest building was added in 2019.
As the supreme court of the European Union, the institution is tasked with ensuring that EU law is correctly applied across the Union and that member states meet their obligations.
27 judges work at the ECJ, one for each EU member state. They are appointed for a duration of six years. Former minister François Biltgen from the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) has been representing the Grand Duchy since 2013 and is currently in his second term.
The building also houses the European General Court (EGC), which was founded in an attempt to relieve the ECJ of some of its duties. This institution treats cases between citizens, businesses, or states and a European body.
Since 1952, both courts have made a combined total of more than 42,000 decisions.
More than 2,200 people work at the different departments of the European courts. More than a third are translators who translated 1.2 million pages in 2022 alone. During court sessions, translations are made simultaneously for people assisting the trials.
The ECJ was not the only institution holding an open day on Tuesday.
Robert Schuman was born in Clausen in 1886 and was also raised in the Luxembourg City district. Today, the Schuman House is home to a department from the University of Luxembourg.
The Centre for Contemporary and Digital History compiled and presented a short film on the EU founding father. Historians from the University worked with original photos, documents, and even some rare audio material of Schuman speaking Luxembourgish to compile this documentary.
