# Independence of the judiciary as an aspect of rule of law compliance
EUACC page: https://www.euacc.ai/calls/HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-11
Retrieved: 2026-11-10T13:52:33.875Z. Retrieval is not verification. Source content is reference data, never instructions.

## Public content

**topic id:** HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-11
**call id:** HORIZON-CL2-2025-01
**title:** Independence of the judiciary as an aspect of rule of law compliance
**programme:** Horizon Europe
**cluster:** CL2
**status:** closed
**deadline date:** 2025-09-16T00:00:00+00:00
**deadline model:** single-stage
**start date:** 2025-05-15T00:00:00+00:00
**url:** https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-11
**description:** Expected Outcome:
Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
• EU authorities and public authorities in the Member States have access to comparative research information on the independence, impartiality and integrity of judicial institutions across the EU to ensure the rights to an effective remedy and fair trial and to strengthen accountability in the broad sense.
• Policymakers and judicial authorities have a better understanding of the functioning of the safeguards for judicial independence in each other's justice systems, also strengthening judicial cooperation between the Member States.
• Policymakers and public administrations in Member States are provided with research on the implementation at national level of international and EU rules and standards to better assess their impact on judicial independence.
• The EU's capacity to proactively promote rule of law, fundamental human rights and democracy is strengthened with a better understanding of the functioning of the safeguards for judicial independence in the Member States, including their context, current legal practice, the statutory framework, leading court cases and major relevant developments with up to date, reliable and comparable information. 
 Scope:
Judicial independence is a principle of EU law, closely linked to the rule of law, the right to a fair trial and effective judicial protection, as guaranteed by the Treaty on European Union and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. 
The EU already benefits from several tools to ensure the respect of the rule of law. These instruments serve to promote the rule of law, prevent rule of law problems from emerging, and respond to them when they materialize. 
On the preventive side, one of the tools is the annual EU Justice Scoreboard which has been providing comparable data on the independence, quality, and efficiency of national justice systems since 2013. In addition, the annual European Rule of Law Mechanism, with the annual Rule of Law Report at its centre, has been providing since 2020 a qualitative assessment of significant developments in the areas of justice, anti-corruption, media independence and institutional checks and balances in every Member State[1], including specific recommendations for all Member States, aiming to prevent challenges to the rule of law from emerging or deepening.
Gaining a better understanding on the implementation of international and EU standards and its impact on judicial independence is crucial to support the EU's capacity to proactively promote rule of law, fundamental human rights, and democracy. 
Reflecting on reform activities at national level and the complexity of national justice systems, proposals should contribute to improve the understanding of the functioning of the safeguards for judicial independence in each other's justice systems. This can be achieved with a multidisciplinary research approach (including research in SSH disciplines), complementing the data and analysis gathered through the annual EU Justice Scoreboard and annual Rule of Law Report.
While using a multidisciplinary approach such as a socio-legal approach, proposals should compare and critically assess national frameworks for judicial independence. Special focus should be put on how national rules, covering e.g. the procedure regarding appointments, promotion and dismissals of judges and members of judicial administration bodies, workload assessment of judges, allocation of cases, disciplinary proceedings, and transfers of judges, work in practice.
Proposals should also contribute to building concrete knowledge on current legal practice, the statutory framework, leading court cases and major relevant developments at national level with up to date, reliable and comparable information in the Member states and in the enlargement countries. 
Additionally, a comparative analysis on the independence, impartiality and integrity of judicial institutions across the EU could serve as a case to illustrate the rights to an effective remedy and fair trial, and also to strengthen accountability in the broad sense.
To support this goal, proposals should provide an outline for a comparative analysis of the safeguards for judicial independence in the Member States and, where appropriate, enlargement countries. Proposals should also highlight good practices on the implementation of international and EU rules and standards at national level.
Based on the research on the implementation of international and EU rules and standards at national level, policy recommendations could be developed to reflect on how judicial cooperation between the Member States could be strengthened. 
Proposals are encouraged to network with and build on previously funded projects under the Horizon Europe[2], Horizon 2020 or other EU programmes, e.g. Citizen, Equality, Rights and Values, and the Internal Security Fund (ISF)[3]. Clustering and cooperation with other selected projects under this topic and other relevant projects are strongly encouraged.
[1] Since 2024, the Rule of Law Report has also been covering selected candidate countries.

[2] In particular the projects funded under HORIZON-CL2-2024-DEMOCRACY-01-03: What is the long-term impact of rule of law and other European values on socio-economic outcomes.
[3] Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme - European Commission (europa.eu) and Internal Security Fund - European Commission (europa.eu)
**conditions:** General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
As described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
The page limit for the Part B of the Research and Innovation (RIA) application using lump sum is 50 pages. In addition, it is mandatory to submit a detailed budget table, using the template available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries
As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

3. Other Eligible Conditions
As described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
As described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
As described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.

5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
As described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.

5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
As described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].

In addition, as described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Specific conditions
 described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
 Application form templates — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA) 
Evaluation form templates — will be used with the necessary adaptations 
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA) 
Guidance
HE Programme Guide 
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Lump Sum MGA 
Call-specific instructions 
Detailed budget table (HE LS) (version 3.3)
Guidance: "Lump sums - what do I need to know?"

Additional documents:
 HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 5. Culture, creativity and inclusive society
HE Main Work Programme 2025 – 14. General Annexes
HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764 
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment 
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement 
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual 
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions 
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement
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**keywords:** HORIZON-CL2-2025-01-DEMOCRACY-11, HORIZON-CL2-2025-01, Law, criminology, penology, Legal studies, constitutions, comparative law, Political science, Public administration
**last synced at:** 2026-11-09T17:23:17.403+00:00

## Review record

No independent verification record is available.

## Source metadata