Dutch increasingly confident in “independent” judicial system

An increasing number of Dutch consider the judicial system in the Netherlands to be independent, according to the Justice Scoreboard 2017 that the European Commission published on Monday. A quarter of the Dutch population even rate the judicial system as very independent, and 76 percent are confident in it. In 2015 it was 16 percent and 72 percent respectively, ANP reports.

Eight percent of the Dutch population think that judges are susceptible to pressure from economic interests. And 8 percent think that government and political intervention put the courts' independence in jeopardy.

The Netherlands is in the top five EU countries when it comes to confidence in Justice. Denmark got first place. In comparison with other EU countries, the Netherlands has relatively few judges - only 14 per 100,000 residents. Luxembourg, Hungary and Slovenia have more than 40. Denmark and Ireland make up the bottom of the list, with 7 and 3 judges per 100,000 residents respectively.

In 2015 it took an average of 87 days to handle a trial. That is slightly less in the previous years and good enough to put the Netherlands in the top 10 for speedy trials.