Watch out Netflix: The European Union’s highest court will be offering top-flight legal entertainment, as some rulings and hearings will be broadcast online from April 26.
Judgments and advocate general opinions from the Grand Chamber in the Luxembourg-based tribunal, where the most important cases are assigned, will be shown live on the court’s website. Judges usually read out their conclusions around 9:30 a.m. CET to a small audience of lawyers and journalists.
The court will also show hearings from the Grand Chamber for a six-month pilot period, but these won’t be livestreamed. Morning hearings will be available from 2:30 p.m. and afternoon hearings can be viewed the following day. It won’t be possible to access them afterward.
The court said it is taking the step “to facilitate the public’s access to its judicial activity.” It might also come as a huge sigh of relief to legal fans who can now avoid the cost and difficulty of trekking to Luxembourg to follow key cases. It’s unclear how the move will affect the number of passengers taking the notoriously slow Brussels-Luxembourg train and staying at the five hotels close to the court.
The court sits in a Grand Chamber of 15 judges when it deems a case to be “of exceptional importance.”
