{
 "schema_version": 1,
 "metric_id": "K7",
 "name": "Perceived judicial independence (general public)",
 "domain": "K",
 "tier": "v1",
 "grade": "A",
 "frequency": "A",
 "harmonized_international": true,
 "caveats": "Perception, not institutional performance — the EU Justice Scoreboard itself tracks structural safeguards separately; this survey asks the general public how they would RATE the independence of courts and judges. Share answering 'very good' + 'fairly good'; don't-knows stay in the denominator. Question wording shifted from 'our country' to 'your country' around the 2022 wave (substance unchanged; no break flagged by the Commission). Expert-composite alternatives (WJP Rule of Law Index, V-Dem, World Bank WGI) are deliberately NOT charted here: by their producers' own words their year-to-year movements are mostly not meaningful and iterations are not strictly comparable.",
 "methodology_notes": "Built 12 Jul 2026 from primary sources: 2016 + 2020-2026 from the Scoreboard editions' own quantitative-data Excel files (rolling 4-wave windows; overlap years byte-identical across editions); 2017-2019 read first-hand from the full Flash Eurobarometer reports (FL447 p.38, FL461 p.45, FL474 p.42), each internally cross-validated against the prior wave via the tables' own diff columns. FL numbers per year: 435, 447, 461, 474, 483, 489, 503, 519, 540, 555, 581. Fieldwork is each January; period = survey year. Known Commission citation anomaly: the 2025 edition cites FL555 for both the general-public and companies surveys (companies normally has its own FL number) — values used here are from the general-public figure/sheet only. The parallel companies survey is a different population and is never merged. Refresh each spring from the new Scoreboard edition's data file.",
 "owner_review_required": false,
 "sources": [
  {
   "org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "url": "https://commission.europa.eu/law/cross-border-cases/judicial-cooperation/tools-judicial-cooperation/eu-justice-scoreboard_en",
   "licence": "European Commission / Eurobarometer, cited with attribution"
  }
 ],
 "breaks": [],
 "primary": {
  "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|NL|%|population=general_public",
  "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
  "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
  "geography": "NL",
  "unit_code": "%",
  "dimensions": {
   "population": "general_public"
  },
  "frequency": "A",
  "points": [
   {
    "period": "2016",
    "value": 72.0
   },
   {
    "period": "2017",
    "value": 76.0
   },
   {
    "period": "2018",
    "value": 79.0
   },
   {
    "period": "2019",
    "value": 71.0
   },
   {
    "period": "2020",
    "value": 77.0
   },
   {
    "period": "2021",
    "value": 76.7
   },
   {
    "period": "2022",
    "value": 77.0
   },
   {
    "period": "2023",
    "value": 70.0
   },
   {
    "period": "2024",
    "value": 69.9
   },
   {
    "period": "2025",
    "value": 76.0
   },
   {
    "period": "2026",
    "value": 77.0
   }
  ]
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|NL|%|population=general_public",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "geography": "NL",
   "unit_code": "%",
   "dimensions": {
    "population": "general_public"
   },
   "frequency": "A",
   "points": [
    {
     "period": "2016",
     "value": 72.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2017",
     "value": 76.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2018",
     "value": 79.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2019",
     "value": 71.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2020",
     "value": 77.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2021",
     "value": 76.7
    },
    {
     "period": "2022",
     "value": 77.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2023",
     "value": 70.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2024",
     "value": 69.9
    },
    {
     "period": "2025",
     "value": 76.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2026",
     "value": 77.0
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "peers": [
  {
   "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|AT|%|population=general_public",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "geography": "AT",
   "unit_code": "%",
   "dimensions": {
    "population": "general_public"
   },
   "frequency": "A",
   "points": [
    {
     "period": "2016",
     "value": 77.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2020",
     "value": 86.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2021",
     "value": 83.6
    },
    {
     "period": "2022",
     "value": 82.7
    },
    {
     "period": "2023",
     "value": 82.6
    },
    {
     "period": "2024",
     "value": 82.1
    },
    {
     "period": "2025",
     "value": 87.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2026",
     "value": 84.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|BE|%|population=general_public",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "geography": "BE",
   "unit_code": "%",
   "dimensions": {
    "population": "general_public"
   },
   "frequency": "A",
   "points": [
    {
     "period": "2016",
     "value": 62.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2020",
     "value": 63.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2021",
     "value": 65.9
    },
    {
     "period": "2022",
     "value": 60.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2023",
     "value": 66.3
    },
    {
     "period": "2024",
     "value": 61.1
    },
    {
     "period": "2025",
     "value": 64.3
    },
    {
     "period": "2026",
     "value": 63.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|DE|%|population=general_public",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "geography": "DE",
   "unit_code": "%",
   "dimensions": {
    "population": "general_public"
   },
   "frequency": "A",
   "points": [
    {
     "period": "2016",
     "value": 69.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2020",
     "value": 76.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2021",
     "value": 79.7
    },
    {
     "period": "2022",
     "value": 75.8
    },
    {
     "period": "2023",
     "value": 76.7
    },
    {
     "period": "2024",
     "value": 72.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2025",
     "value": 71.6
    },
    {
     "period": "2026",
     "value": 82.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|DK|%|population=general_public",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "geography": "DK",
   "unit_code": "%",
   "dimensions": {
    "population": "general_public"
   },
   "frequency": "A",
   "points": [
    {
     "period": "2016",
     "value": 88.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2020",
     "value": 86.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2021",
     "value": 74.6
    },
    {
     "period": "2022",
     "value": 83.7
    },
    {
     "period": "2023",
     "value": 86.2
    },
    {
     "period": "2024",
     "value": 83.1
    },
    {
     "period": "2025",
     "value": 81.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2026",
     "value": 88.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|FI|%|population=general_public",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "geography": "FI",
   "unit_code": "%",
   "dimensions": {
    "population": "general_public"
   },
   "frequency": "A",
   "points": [
    {
     "period": "2016",
     "value": 80.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2020",
     "value": 84.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2021",
     "value": 82.9
    },
    {
     "period": "2022",
     "value": 88.1
    },
    {
     "period": "2023",
     "value": 86.3
    },
    {
     "period": "2024",
     "value": 83.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2025",
     "value": 89.2
    },
    {
     "period": "2026",
     "value": 85.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|FR|%|population=general_public",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "geography": "FR",
   "unit_code": "%",
   "dimensions": {
    "population": "general_public"
   },
   "frequency": "A",
   "points": [
    {
     "period": "2016",
     "value": 54.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2020",
     "value": 56.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2021",
     "value": 56.7
    },
    {
     "period": "2022",
     "value": 55.6
    },
    {
     "period": "2023",
     "value": 52.8
    },
    {
     "period": "2024",
     "value": 54.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2025",
     "value": 50.6
    },
    {
     "period": "2026",
     "value": 56.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "key": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)|manual:K7|SE|%|population=general_public",
   "dataset_code": "manual:K7",
   "source_org": "manual:European Commission (Flash Eurobarometer)",
   "geography": "SE",
   "unit_code": "%",
   "dimensions": {
    "population": "general_public"
   },
   "frequency": "A",
   "points": [
    {
     "period": "2016",
     "value": 77.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2020",
     "value": 81.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2021",
     "value": 70.8
    },
    {
     "period": "2022",
     "value": 74.1
    },
    {
     "period": "2023",
     "value": 74.8
    },
    {
     "period": "2024",
     "value": 78.4
    },
    {
     "period": "2025",
     "value": 76.0
    },
    {
     "period": "2026",
     "value": 82.0
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "derived": [],
 "trend": {
  "direction": "flat",
  "method": "OLS over last 8 annual observations, 5% significance (MBW convention)",
  "window_start": "2019",
  "window_end": "2026",
  "slope_per_year": 0.114286
 },
 "deltas": {
  "y1": 1.0,
  "y5": 0.3,
  "y10": 5.0,
  "latest_period": "2026",
  "latest_value": 77.0
 },
 "revisions_since": "2026-07-17",
 "generated_at": "2026-09-04T08:06:56+00:00"
}