Member states appoint Buhagiar and Stoynev as General Court judges until 2031

The representatives of the governments of the European Union member states have appointed Andria Buhagiar and Ivan Stoynev as judges of the General Court for a first term of office running until 31 August 2031. The appointment is set out in Decision (EU) 2026/2235, adopted in Brussels on 30 September 2026 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 5 October 2026. The decision enters into force on the date of its publication.

The decision was taken by the representatives of the governments of the member states, the body that appoints the members of the Court of Justice of the European Union under Article 19 of the Treaty on European Union. Its legal basis is Article 19 of the TEU together with Articles 254 and 255 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The text records that the panel set up under Article 255 of the TFEU issued a favourable opinion on the suitability of both candidates to perform the duties of judges of the General Court.

The appointments respond to a large-scale renewal of the bench. According to the recitals, the terms of office of 26 judges of the General Court expired on 31 August 2025, and it is in that context that the two candidates were nominated. The decision was signed in Brussels on 30 September 2026 by the President, A. O’Donoghue.

Two first-term judges

Article 1 of Decision (EU) 2026/2235 appoints the following to the General Court as judges for the period from the date of entry into force of the decision to 31 August 2031:

• Andria Buhagiar
• Ivan Stoynev

The text states that both were nominated for a first term of office as a judge of the General Court. The decision does not attach any further condition to the two appointments beyond the end date of 31 August 2031.

A bench renewed after 26 expired mandates

The expiry of 26 mandates on 31 August 2025 is the background cited in the decision. The General Court is the judicial body that hears at first instance most actions brought by individuals and companies against acts of the European Union institutions, as well as a range of disputes between the institutions and the member states in the areas assigned to it.

The two appointments therefore add to the composition of the court rather than filling posts whose holders were renewed in the same operation. The decision takes effect from its publication in the Official Journal, which is the date on which the new judges’ terms begin to run.

A parallel appointment at the Court of Justice

The same issue of the Official Journal carries Decision (EU) 2026/2236, also of 30 September 2026, which renews the term of Niels Fenger as a judge of the Court of Justice for the period from 7 October 2027 to 6 October 2033.

That decision notes that the terms of office of 14 judges and six advocates-general of the Court of Justice are due to expire on 6 October 2027, and that the panel set up under Article 255 of the TFEU also gave a favourable opinion on that candidate. Both texts were signed by the same President on the same day.

What the appointments mean

The two appointments take effect from the publication of Decision (EU) 2026/2235 in the Official Journal and secure the presence of Andria Buhagiar and Ivan Stoynev on the General Court until 31 August 2031. They come as the court absorbs the consequences of 26 mandates that expired in August 2025, a renewal that shapes the bench deciding a large share of the European Union’s litigation for the rest of the decade.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 2026/2235, 5 October 2026 (official reference: Decision (EU) 2026/2235).