Perceptions Versus Reality: Evaluating Judicial Independence in Cyprus through the 2025 ENCJ Report
Judicial independence constitutes a fundamental pillar of every rule-of-law state and a critical prerequisite for safeguarding equality before the law, justice, and public trust in institutions. Of particular significance is the way this independence is experienced and assessed by the judiciary itself, as the internal perception of institutional roles profoundly shapes and influences the quality of justice delivered.
The 2025 Survey of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ), which focuses on judges’ own perceptions regarding their independence, offers an important perspective on the situation in Cyprus. It sheds light on the conditions under which members of the judiciary perceive their role, their position within the institutional framework, and the dynamics of independence within the judicial system.
The findings of this survey depict a stable and, in many respects, positive landscape. Nevertheless, any evaluation of the judiciary must acknowledge that self-perception cannot be detached from external institutional oversight. This underscores that genuine independence is grounded not only in subjective experience but also in objective structural guarantees.
Read the critical analysis of the survey findings by the Procedural Law Unit of the University of Nicosia for a comprehensive understanding of the Cypriot judicial framework:
