Court System Reform Support Project Presented

The projected has been carried out within two years and financed by the EU as part of the programme CARDS 2003.

ZAGREB, CROATIA - “Reform of Croatian Court System – second phase” is a project which covers an important part of reforms of the court system, whose aim was to establish an efficient justice accessible to all citizens, they said during its presentation. 

- This is an important dimension in Croatia’s access in the European Union, and it will facilitate the administration of issues, the transparency of the courts’ work and a better specialisation of the judges – said Vincent Degert, chief of the European Commission Delegation in Croatia.  

The projected has been carried out throughout two years and was financed by the European Union as part of the programme CARDS 2003, with an amount of 1.4 million euros. The project is made of four parts: development of the administration through management, rationalisation of the court network, standardisation of court documents and the informatization of the court system.

- The reform of the court system, has to reflect also in the State Attorney’s Office. Changes are necessary and we have to change laws. This and other projects will surely improve the quality of the courts – said Mladen Bajic, head state attorney.

However, Branko Hrvatin, president of the Supreme Court of Croatia, warned that if this project is isolated, it will not give any results.

- It is not good to base everything on the jurisdiction, what about other segments of society? Many errors appear in public offices, police and other institutions, and the responsibility and blame are given to the courts. We continue to eliminated the bad sides of the courts, but others should do this as well – said Hrvatin.

He added that reforms will not have great impacts as the courts will not be able to solve problems without other segments of society and instutotions.

During the implementation of the project, Austrian experts shared their experience in rationalisation, that is connection within courts.