Quality of justice for a New Social Europe: better access, more equality, better democracy

The following article debates a very challenging question about access to justice. This is a very important issue, strictly related to the functioning and working of democracy as a measurement of execution of a Social Europe based on public value. Access to justice has come increasingly to the fore in the last decades, due to the growing of cross-border disputes among European citizens and organizations. The author argues that improving access to justice could help in getting more equality and better democracy across Europe. By a public value approach, the article first analyses the main policies related to access to justice, which have been recently carried out in Europe. Then three main streams are sorted out: the information and communication technology (ICT) as enabler/facilitator, the citizens/ users involvement, the key role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and bodies. Finally, the case studies analysis shows that all the above dimensions can contribute to get a fairer and stronger New Social Europe based on an easier, faster and cheaper access to justice especially for people in weak conditions such as the women and the poor. The question of access can be determined by a number of different factors, among them the empowerment of the women/poor in respective societies can play a decisive role. Hence, the more social partners and social services organisations are stronger and rooted in societies, the more individuals can have support, ask for advice and for representation.