Judges and prosecutors strike over staffing shortages

Judges and prosecutors in Austria are holding an action week to draw attention to severe staffing shortages, with courtrooms hearing only urgent cases from October 12 to 16. ORF reported that the president of the Regional Court in St. Pölten warned the situation could threaten the rule of law.

About 250 judges and 70 prosecutors are missing nationwide, according to the article. In Lower Austria, the justice system needs around 50 more judges and eight or nine additional prosecutors, said Jörg Iglseder, a judge at the Regional Court in Korneuburg and head of the Korneuburg section of the Austrian Judges’ Association.

Staff are already working at their limits, said Martina Spreitzer-Kropiunik, president of the Regional Court in St. Pölten. Some continue working from home while on sick leave, made possible by electronic case files. Without changes, she warned, proceedings could take longer and people might wait twice as long as they do now for a final judgment.

Iglseder said courts were already prioritising urgent cases rather than processing files one by one. The growing backlog could mean longer proceedings, heavier workloads and later judgments, he said.

The number of cases has risen. The St. Pölten public prosecutor’s office handled 2,725 cases involving known suspects in 2019, compared with 3,622 last year. At the Wiener Neustadt public prosecutor’s office, the number rose from 2,945 to 4,268 over the same period.

Prosecutors also face more complex cases, including cybercrime, while digital evidence such as WhatsApp messages, chats and voice recordings has added to the work involved in criminal proceedings. Thomas Korntheuer, vice-president of the Association of Austrian Prosecutors, said he knew no one in the profession working fewer than 50 to 60 hours a week.

Claims under the EU regulation on air passenger rights are another pressure, Iglseder said. The District Court in Schwechat, in the Bruck an der Leitha district, was working at 180 per cent of capacity last year. Its 14 judges handled 4,500 air passenger rights claims alongside the court’s other work.

The action week is intended to raise public awareness of the staffing shortage, Korntheuer said. Justice Minister Anna Sporrer said in a written statement that the government wanted to provide the resources needed for a strong rule of law, but that repairing public finances had to come first. The ministry is working on short-, medium- and long-term measures to ease the workload. No additional judicial positions are planned in the budget, and Iglseder said no new posts were expected by 2028.

Iglseder said court proceedings across all areas had increased by an average of 25 per cent over the past five years, while the number of judges had grown by about 3 per cent over the past decade.