Tuula Pynnä Finland's candidate for EU Court

The government on Thursday nominated Justice Tuula Pynnä, Member of the Supreme Court, as Finland’s candidate for Judge at the General Court of the European Union for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 September 2019, said a government press release.

Pynnä has long and extensive experience in national judiciary as a member in courts of first instance, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court.

She has also served as Agent of the Finnish Government before the Court of Justice of the EU and in duties related to EU and international cooperation.

Pynnä holds a Master of Laws degree and is trained on the bench. She has also gained two postgraduate degrees in law from abroad (Magister der Rechte and Mastère en Études Juridiques Européennes).

Along with the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, the Court of Justice is one of the key institutions of the European Union.

The Court has its seat in Luxembourg and it consists of two courts: the Court of Justice of the European Union and the General Court.

The General Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine actions brought by natural or legal persons against acts of EU institutions, among others. The cases may relate to matters such as competition law, state aid, intellectual property rights or EU staff regulations.

The vacancy is part of the process of gradually increasing the number of judges in the General Court in order that by 1 September 2019 each Member State has two judges in the General Court.

This is in response to the General Court’s mounting workload. Once Finland has nominated its candidate, the Judge will be appointed by common accord of the governments of the Member States after consulting an EU-level panel responsible for giving an opinion on the candidates’ suitability to perform their duties concerned.