MFF 2028-2034: Council agrees partial mandate on new Justice programme
Today, the Council agreed its partial negotiating position on the new Justice programme, which forms part of the EU’s overall budget.
The programme aims to support judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters and judicial training, and to promote the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. It also aims to ensure equal access to justice for all citizens and businesses, based on the rule of law, mutual recognition and mutual trust.
The negotiating position is ‘partial’ because it excludes financial and horizontal issues. These are currently being discussed as part of the negotiations on the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) covering the period 2028 to 2034. The Commission proposed doubling the budget for the new Justice programme.
“At a time when justice and rule of law must continue to be safeguarded, the agreement reached today marks an important step towards a more effective, accessible and digitalised European area of justice. The new Justice programme will support cooperation across borders, improve access to justice, and reinforce the independence of our judicial systems throughout the EU.”
Costas Fytiris, Minister of Justice and Public order of the Republic of Cyprus
Key elements of the programme
Digitalisation in cross-border situations plays an important, cross-cutting role in the new Justice programme. The programme may, for instance, support tools facilitating digital communication between courts or enhance the security of the European digital identity wallets. Digitalising justice systems improves the efficiency of cross-border judicial procedure, reduces costs for public budgets and end users, and contributes to improved services.
The programme will support actions to facilitate cooperation on combatting serious crime, such as corruption, terrorism and environmental crime, both at EU level and in candidate countries as part of their judicial reforms.
The programme will also support the training of staff on civil and criminal law and on effective application of fundamental rights. It should have a strong focus on digitalisation of justice and of cross-border judicial proceedings. Judicial training can involve member states’ legal, judicial and administrative authorities or academic institutions and national bodies responsible for judicial training.
Finally, the programme will also continue to focus on streamlining processes and administrative procedures, to enhance the efficiency of the justice systems.
Council’s position
Regarding the management of the programme, member states agreed on its implementation by the means of implementing acts, as is the case in the current Justice programme. The Commission had proposed to put the programme under its direct management.
For judicial training, member states agreed to consolidate the already broad definition of ‘judiciary and judicial staff’, to include any other justice professionals associated with the judiciary, such as lawyers, notaries, bailiffs, insolvency practitioners, mediators, court interpreters, etc. The aim is to ensure that many national actors involved in judicial cooperation and in the justice administration will be eligible for participation. The novelty of the new programme is non-judicial training which includes training for non-judicial actors.
Next steps
The partial negotiating position approved today is the Council’s mandate to start negotiations with the European Parliament on the regulation for the Justice programme. The decision on the programme’s budget for 2028-2034 will depend on the final agreement on the next MFF.
Background
The proposed regulation establishing the new Justice programme was published on 3 September 2025 in the context of the multiannual financial framework 2028-2034.
Since the proposed regulation is part of the package of proposals linked to the multiannual financial framework (MFF), all the provisions in the text with budgetary implications or corresponding to the elements that form part of horizontal negotiations on the MFF have been bracketed and excluded from the partial general approach, pending further progress on the MFF.
