A report from Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland indicates that there are widespread weaknesses within Europe's judiciaries. According to the report this is now apparent in over a third of the Council of Europe member states. In many cases only poor safeguards against corruption are in place and public trust in the system is weak. Among the most concerning shortcomings are: lack of independence and autonomy of judicial councils; varying degrees of executive pressure on the judiciary; opaque recruitment, nomination and promotion criteria for judges and corruption.