Eligibility Criteria for Legal Aid: Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The free movement of people guaranteed in the EU encourages people to move their place of residence from one Member State to another. It is essential to ensure equal protection of their rights in all EU countries. Protection of the right to access to justice cannot be ensured without an effective legal aid provision to economically disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of people. EU countries are all very different, and so too is the regulation of their national systems of legal aid. The article provides an overview of 14 EU countries—Lithuania, Germany, Netherland, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, and UK (England & Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland), identifying similarities and differences in the assessment of person’s eligibility for the legal aid in civil cases.