During the COVID-19 crisis, governments resorted to exceptional measures and restricted the fundamental rights of citizens in seeking to get control over the spread of the epidemic. Consequently, control over the governmental measures that were adopted during the Health State of Emergency was in great demand by citizens. In France, the existence of an administrative judiciary allows fast and efficient access to the judge (which is almost free) and ensures judicial control on public freedoms. French administrative courts, particularly the Conseil d‘État, played a crucial role during this period. This was made possible thanks to efficient judicial practices which existed before the COVID-19 crisis, notably the accelerated procedure of “référés”. This contribution analyses these practices over the first few months of the state of emergency in France (March–June 2020).

INTRODUCTION

In May 2020, the European Law Institute (ELI) adopted Principles for the COVID-19 crisis, a set of 15 principles, which are intended to guide European States, EU institutions and other bodies “with the object of ensuring that everything that is done accords with the rule of law and democratic values”. Principle 5 is dedicated to the “Justice system” and its first paragraph provides:

On 18 June 2020, at an ELI webinar dedicated to the rule of law during and post COVID-19, the speakers were asked to concentrate on the judiciary and its independence and focus their attention upon the challenges in some Member States, especially on the Polish experience as it shows “how weaknesses in a judicial discipline system can be weaponised to seek to bend judges to a ruling party’s political will”. One participant suggested that many countries face similar situations to that of Poland whose constitution offers strong guarantees of judicial independence and that, consequently, the Polish experience can be a cautionary tale for other countries as well.