Dutch cabinet approves two candidates for EU court posts

The Dutch cabinet has approved Carla Sieburgh and Herke Kranenborg as candidates for two posts at the European Union’s Court of Justice, but both still need to pass an EU-level assessment and secure agreement among member states.

Sieburgh, a professor of civil law at Radboud University and a former member of the Dutch judiciary, is the Netherlands’ candidate for advocate general at the Court of Justice. The country is entitled to put forward a candidate under a rotation system for 22 EU member states that do not have a permanent advocate general.

Kranenborg, who works in the European Commission’s legal service and teaches European data protection and privacy law at Maastricht University, is the candidate for a judgeship at the General Court, which is part of the EU Court of Justice. The vacancy followed the departure of judge Marc van der Woude on 15 September 2026.

The candidates were selected through an application process involving an independent advisory committee chaired by the prosecutor general at the Netherlands’ Supreme Court. The Dutch government will now nominate them to the EU. Member states decide appointments by consensus, after an assessment by a committee of former Court of Justice judges, senior national judges and legal experts. The Netherlands says member states routinely follow that committee’s advice.