Cross-border legal disputes: citizens unaware of free legal aid

"For almost ten years now, the EU Directive on access to justice in cross-border disputes has granted EU citizens the right to free legal advice in cases of commercial and civil disputes. Yet, even though the report presented last year by the European Commission shows that Member States are applying the Directive successfully, only 12% of EU citizens are aware that they are entitled to legal aid in the case of such disputes in another Member State than that of their residence", said Tadeusz Zwiefka, author of the Report on improving access to justice adopted today by the European Parliament.

"If citizens, and mostly even legal professionals, are not aware that they can apply for legal aid in another Member State than that of their citizenship, then we are dealing with a dead law, a law that is simply not applied. The citizens, unaware that they have the right to free pre-litigation advice and further aid during the actual trial, usually give up on their claim. An increasingly mobile and harmonised European market should result in the increase of cross-border disputes. However, this is not the case and we still have a limited number of people applying for assistance under the provisions of this Directive", underlined the MEP. "We need to launch an effective information campaign and increase the number of legal practitioners willing to provide such assistance", he added.

In his Report, Tadeusz Zwiefka highlighted the importance of cooperation between Member States, non-governmental bodies and professional legal bodies. "Best practice in the field of free legal advice such as legal clinics or pro bono agencies should be widely promoted and supported within a structured legal advice network. In times of crisis and austerity, we want to emphasise the importance of pre-litigation legal aid, including advice on the use of alternative methods of dispute resolution, which often prove to be less expensive and more effective in civil and commercial disputes", said Zwiefka, the EPP Group Coordinator in the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.

MEPs also called for the creation of a database of legal professionals with sufficient comparative law and linguistic skills, thus ensuring the appointment of competent lawyers to act in specific cases.

"Let us not forget that sometimes bad advice is worse and has more costly consequences than no advice at all", concluded Zwiefka.