Belgian Koen Lenaerts has been elected President of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) for the fourth time. His new mandate will run until October 6, 2027.
The 69-year-old Belgian, who was born in the town of Morzel in the province of Antwerp, began his career at the Court in 1984 as a legal secretary. In the late 1980s he briefly worked as a barrister at the Brussels Bar Association, but has been a judge of the Court of Justice of the EU since 1989. First at the General Court, part of the Court of Justice of the EU, and since 2003 at the Court itself. On October 8, 2015, his fellow judges elected him president for the first time. His previous, third mandate expired on October 6; his fourth mandate begins on Tuesday.
The Court of Justice of the EU consists of one judge from each member state and eleven Advocates General. They are appointed by member states for a six-year term, renewable. From among them, they elect a president for a three-year renewable term. Lenaerts was reappointed by the federal government as a judge in 2020 and his term also expires on 6 October 2027.
The Court of Justice is one of the most important institutions of the EU. Based in Luxembourg, the court ensures, among other things, that European law is interpreted and applied in the same way in all member states. In this role, it has had a significant impact on the development of the EU in recent decades.
