Operating from tiny Luxembourg, fewer than 100 individuals are invested with unique power to shape the rules governing half a billion people.
Members of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) can compel governments to rewrite laws, force corporations to shell out billions and have the last word on laws of the world’s largest trade bloc.
These revered experts are held to exacting standards to avoid anything casting a shadow of doubt over their decisions. The court’s code of conduct states jurists must avoid all situations “which may give rise to a conflict of interest… or may be perceived as such”.
Yet a surprising number of CJEU jurists have ties to the very companies the court can effectively regulate, Investigate Europe can reveal.
More than 40 per cent of current judges and advocates-general have declared private financial interests, exclusive analysis of transparency documents shows.
