Upgrading the CJEU's Public Relations Toolbox – Between Politicizing and Legitimizing the Court

Public attention is important for courts to ensure compliance, support, and legitimacy. This applies even more so under conditions of increased pressure on judicial authority in the EU and amidst criticism of the CJEU. However, the way the CJEU reaches out to the public and media in order to disseminate information and to legitimate its actions has not been investigated in a systematic manner so far. This paper asks (i) how the CJEU has extended its public relations activities in recent years, and (ii) whether the Court, by using new communication tools more actively, is capable of influencing the public debate. With help of press release data, twitter data, and interviews with CJEU communications staff, I investigate how the CJEU professionalized its communication strategies and upgrades its public relations toolbox by including social media channels. The paper introduces original interview material, data for all CJEU press releases for 1997-2018 as well as recent Twitter data. Overall, the CJEU’s staff seems to be convinced that the benefits of upgrading its public relations toolbox outweigh potential costs. However, from a theoretical point of view, the CJEU should face a trade-off between necessary legitimation efforts vis-à-vis outward audiences on the one hand, and risking politicization of its judgments on the other hand. The analysis of twitter data supports both dynamics, depending on how the Court communicates with the (Twitter) public. The way the CJEU addresses trade-offs of public attention might be exemplary for other EU courts or ICs, given the pressure on courts in various jurisdictions.