An EJTN delegation led by EJTN’s Secretary General, Ms Ingrid Derveaux, and composed of members of the Western Balkans II Project team, Mr Giovanni Pasqua and Ms Vanja Tekic, visited the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors of the Republic of North Macedonia, and the Kosovo Justice Academy between 29 and 31 March.
The mission’s main goal was to engage with leading judicial training institutions in North Macedonia and Kosovo to understand better how EJTN can support the professional development of judicial office holders in the Western Balkans and maximise Project resources to transfer knowledge from the vast experience of the Network.
The leadership of the judicial training institutions emphasised the importance of standards developed by the EJTN Members, including the EJTN’s Judicial Training Principles, and intensified dialogue with colleagues in Europe on topics of common interest.
The EJTN delegation also met with representatives of the European Union in North Macedonia and Kosovo, and other important partners in the region, to harmonise efforts and jointly contribute to cohesive training provision.
This official visit is a follow-up to the previous Western Balkans missions that included visits to the judicial training institutions of Albania and Montenegro (February), Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republic of Serbia (January).
EJTN wishes to thank the Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Judicial Council of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Council of Public Prosecutors of the Republic of North Macedonia, the Delegation of the European Union to North Macedonia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to North Macedonia, the Kosovo Justice Academy, the Kosovo Judicial Council, the European Union Office in Kosovo, and the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, for their cooperation.
EJTN also expresses its gratitude to European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) for their invaluable support in strengthening the European judicial community.
Note for editors
The Western Balkans II Project is funded by the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II) under the Pilot Action on Judicial Training n° IPA/2021/425-032.
The Project supports the Serbian Judicial Academy and Montenegrin Judicial Training Centre in conducting training needs assessments (TNAs) and designing and implementing several seminars on the EU acquis for judges, prosecutors and judicial trainers from the Western Balkans.
In addition, the Project’s beneficiaries are eligible to participate in a wide range of EJTN activities, including the EJTN General Assembly, EJTN Sub-Working Groups and Conferences, Judicial Training Methods Seminars, Trainer exchanges, Court President Exchanges, and the THEMIS competition.
The following judicial training institutions are the beneficiaries of this programme:
• The Albanian School of Magistrates
• The Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• The Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Republika Srpska
• The Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of Montenegro
• Academy for Judges and Public Prosecutors of the Republic of North Macedonia
• The Kosovo Justice Academy
• The Serbian Judicial Academy
The Western Balkans II Project will run between March 2022 and March 2025.
