Discussion Following the Presentation by Luzius Wildhaber

Thank you very much for your excellent presentation, Luzius [Wildhaber], whereby you also elaborated on the profile of pilot judgments. I think pilot judgments have been misunderstood in some audits and also by well-wishers to the Convention pronouncing themselves on reform proposals. It would be wonderful if pilot judgments could resolve thousands of applications in one go, for example applications concerning the length of proceedings. But they can’t. Pilot proceedings presuppose very particular circumstances, as a rule a legislative norm which leads to thousands of cases all with the same parameters. Take for instance the case of Vomocil and others v. the Czech Republic currently before the Court. These cases concern Czech rent legislation which potentially may affect thousands of proprietors (and, incidentally, also tenants). These cases are similar to Broniowski v. Poland, but there are certain differences.