Top FIFA official also holds key EU court function

The 255 Committee, established in 2010, is composed of seven judges — six chosen by the Council of the EU and one by the European Parliament — and scrutinizes the suitability of judges nominated by EU member countries to join the CJEU, before passing recommendations on to the Council. 

The Council is not obligated to follow the Committee’s advice, though it has largely rubber-stamped assessments from the 255 Committee on who should — and should not — be appointed to the CJEU. The top court delivers ultimate rulings on matters of EU law.

A spokesperson for the CJEU said, “it is totally impossible to envisage a situation whereby a 255 Committee member could possibly use its role on this advisory body in order to try to influence the outcome of pending or future cases at the ECJ.”

Some legal observers believe that given the hundreds of cases that make it to the Luxembourg court each year, it would be unrealistic for members of the 255 panel — who often hold roles at European universities, for example — to be completely free from potential conflicts of interest.

Complaints have been made to the European Ombudsman over the 255’s secrecy when deliberating over judges, though the Ombudsman ruled in 2019 that the committee “was justified in refusing to grant full public access to the opinions, primarily to ensure that the Panel continued to be free to express frank and robust views on the merits of candidates.”

A spokesperson for the Ombudsman declined to comment on the Skouris scenario. 

Skouris was the president of the CJEU from 2003 until 2015, and took up his position on the 255 Committee in March 2022. He has served since 2017 as the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee, earning a base salary of $215,000 in 2023.

FIFA, which organizes the flagship World Cup and was rocked by a massive corruption scandal in 2015, created an ethics committee primarily to investigate possible infringements of its ethical code.