On 21 March 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) published its judicial statistics for the year 2024. In total, 1,706 new cases were brought before and 1,785 cases were completed by the Court of Justice (ECJ) and the General Court. There are currently 2,508 cases pending before both Courts. Both the number of completed cases and the number of pending cases are remarkable, with more cases completed in one year than ever before, and fewer cases pending than in previous years (for the judicial statistics 2023 →eucrim 1/2024, 16-17).

The key statistics for the Court of Justice (ECJ):

• In 2024, the ECJ received 920 new cases, which was a 12% increase over the previous year.
• It completed 863 cases, a 10% increase.
• As of 31 December 2024, a record 1,206 cases were pending before the ECJ, highlighting the need for legislative reform. This reform, which entered into force in October 2024 (→eucrim 1/2024, 16), aims to better balance the workload between the ECJ and the General Court.
• The subject matter of cases referred to the ECJ remained consistent with previous years, covering consumer and environmental protection, social policy, transport, competition, and State aid.
• A high number of cases concerned economic and monetary policy, restrictive measures adopted in the context of the war in Ukraine, and the area of freedom, security, and justice.
• The average duration of proceedings across all types of cases increased from 16.1 months in 2023 to 17.2 months in 2024.
• However, for cases subject to the urgent preliminary ruling procedure, the average time decreased from 4.3 months in 2023 to 3.3 months in 2024.
• In 2024, the ECJ's Grand Chamber delivered 74 decisions, compared to 36 in the previous year.
• Out of the 573 references for a preliminary ruling, 98 came from Italian courts, up from 43 in 2023; the second highest number of references (66) came from German courts, which is, however, at its lowest for the last fifteen years.

The key statistics for the General Court:

• In 2024, the General Court managed to significantly reduce its backlog, with only 302 cases pending as of 31 December.
• In 2024, 786 new cases were brought before the General Court.
• The average duration of proceedings increased slightly to 18.5 months for cases closed by judgment or order, and to 22.1 months for cases closed by judgment.
• The average length of proceedings for cases completed by judgment varied between 42.6 months in competition law cases, 37.2 months in State aid cases, and 13.5 months in intellectual property cases.

In the coming years, an increase in litigation before the General Court is expected regarding cases concerning the Commission's implementation of substantive obligations imposed on economic actors.