This project is funded partly from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (75%) and partly from national funds (25%) whithin the framework of the Operational Program "Information Society" of the 3d Community Support Framework (CSF)
1. The President, the Vice- Presidents and the Councilors are the members of the Council of State. The Associate Councilors and the Auditors are also judicial functionaries of the court. The structure of the court’s functionaries in these three ranks (Councilors, Associate Councilors, Auditors) is taken after the French Conseil d’ Etat and has remained unchanged through the 77 years of its life.
Today, the Court is formed by the President, 10 Vice-Presidents, 49 Councilors, 55 Associate Councilors and 37 Auditors. According to the provisions of art.88 and 89 of the Constitution all of the Court’s judges are appointed for life and are prohibited from performing any other salaried service or practicing any other profession.
The President is the head of the Plenary Court and represents the Court to the public. Every Vice-President presides over one of the Court’s Chambers. The Associate Councilors mainly present the cases and participate to the Court’s deliberations where they voice their opinion but may not cast a vote on the case. The Auditors assist the Councilors and the Associate Councilors in the preparation of the cases.
2. For the greater part of the Court’s life Auditors where appointed after passing an examination procedure held by a committee formed by Vice Presidents and Councilors of the Council of State. For the last decade Auditors are appointed after graduating from the National School of Judges. Promotion to the posts of Associate Councilor and Councilor is effected by presidential degree following a decision of the Supreme Judicial Council granted after serving a minimum time in the previous rank. Promotion to the posts of President and Vice-President is effected by presidential decree issued on the proposal of the Cabinet, by selection from among the members of the court. After the constitutional revision of 2001 judges of appellate administrative courts may be promoted to the rank of Councilors of State and to one fifth of the posts.
3. At the time of the foundation of the court one woman tried to participate in the examination for the appointment of 10 Auditors but was excluded from the procedure due to her gender. The Plenum dismissed the application for annulment that the candidate brought before the court, holding that women could not be appointed as Auditors of the Council of State. Since then the situation has changed. In 1958 the first woman was appointed as auditor in the court. For the first time in 2004 the first woman Vice- President of the court was appointed. Today, there serve in the court 22 women Auditors (compared to 15 men), 35 women Associate Councilors (compared to 20 men) and 13 women Councilors (compared to 36 men).
4. The Council of State rules in Plenum and in six Chambers. The Plenum rules on cases of importance brought before it by the President. A Chamber may also refer a case to the Plenum because of its importance or because it reaches a decision contrary to the decision of another supreme court. After the constitutional revision of 2001 when a Chamber judges a provision of a statute to be contrary to the Constitution, it is bound to refer the question to the Plenum, unless this has been judged by a previous decision of the Plenum or of the Special Highest Court. A presidential decree issued on the proposal of the Plenum regulates which cases are heard by each Chamber.
The Plenum convenes in Council when it rules or gives an expert opinion on judicial or administrative issues. The Plenum in Council decides on the composition of the Chambers and the division of Councilors and Associate Councilors to the Chambers. The Auditors prepare cases of all chambers and after a certain period of service they are divided into two groups, each of which belongs to three Chambers.
A Chamber convening in council may dismiss applications which are manifestly inadmissible or ill-founded and refer to the competent court cases which may not be heard by the Council of State. A committee formed by the President of the court or a Vice-President, a Councilor and the judge reporting on the case rules on applications of interim measures.
5. An office of jurisprudence and research formed by judicial functionaries of the court fulfils the task of collecting and classifying jurisprudence and issuing a short brief containing the jurisprudence of the Court as well as the jurisprudence of the ECJ and of the ECHR.
6. When an application is filed with the court the President of the competent Chamber assigns the case to a councilor or to an Associate Councilor and sets the date of the hearing. Since the foundation of the Council of State communication between judges, lawyers and Administration is established in order to prepare the case for the public hearing.
7. According to art.95§5 of the Constitution the Administration is bound to comply with judicial decisions. To this end a Council of Compliance has been founded, formed by the President and two Councilors of State. The Council of Compliance hears applications of any party concerned and if it finds that the Administration has not complied with a judicial decision it imposes a fine that the applicant collects.
8. Furthermore, ever-since its foundation the Council of State has also an administrative function consisting in the elaboration of all regulatory presidential decrees. This elaboration is a necessary procedure preceding promulgation of the presidential decree and in case it is omitted, the decree, if challenged before the competent court, is annulled. The elaboration of the decrees by the Council is limited to the lato sensu legality (and the constitutionality of the relevant legal provisions) of the decrees without going into the substance of the context of the elaborated decree. The administration is obliged to send the regulative decrees to the Council for elaboration but it is not obliged to follow the consultative response of the Council. Nonetheless, the Administration usually abides by the Council's opinion.
