On 2 March 2022, the Court of Justice of the EU published its judicial statistics for the year 2021.

Looking at the number of cases brought before the Court of Justice and the General Court, the year 2021 once again confirmed the upward trend with 1.720 new cases brought before the two courts compared to 1.683 cases in 2018, 1.905 cases in 2019, and 1.584 cases in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic.

Regarding the number of references for preliminary ruling to the CJEU in 2021, a total of 587 references were filed from the courts of the Member States. The subjects addressed in these references included for example:

• Rule of law;
• The environment;
• Protection of personal data;
• Social protection;
• The fight against violence against women
• Consumer protection.

In this context, the Court points out how much its activities closely reflect contemporary concerns and challenges.