Enhancement of the capacities of the Ministry of Justice

Project description

The project’s overall objective was to contribute to the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union. The project purpose was to build capacity within the Croatian Ministry of Justice and the Croatian Judicial Academy in order to implement the Strategy for the Reform of the Judiciary, as well as the Anti-Corruption Strategy. The project focused on the following five result areas:

• Strengthening the organisational capacities of the Ministry of Justice
• Strengthening the  human resource management within the Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Justice capacities for EU Law implementation within the Ministry of Justice
• Strengthening the operational capacity of the Judicial Academy
• Ensuring the provision of advice to Ministry of Justice by a High Level Advisor

The overall effect of the project was that the Croatian Ministry of Justice and the Croatian Judicial Academy developed more organisational and administrative capacity, enabling the Croatian Administration – the Justice Sector administration in particular – to integrate more profoundly and embed more structurally European regulations in new Croatian legislation. In addition, the training of Croatian Ministry staff, and staff of the Judicial Academy, judges and other judicial officials in the implementation of EU legislation and the implications of relevant specialised fields of EU law reinforced the knowledge of EU legislative processes and procedures in certain parts of the Croatian Administration.

The advice on organisational issues and Human Resource Management, and the overall structural advice to strengthen the Ministry of Justice have led to further concrete results and action steps that should culminate in a more effective, capable and agile Ministry of Justice.

The practical training courses for Ministry officials have strengthened the professional competences of the Ministry staff, and contributed to ensuring a confident level of familiarity with most relevant issues in implementing EU legislation into national legislation. The constant emphasis on the practical aspects of EU law implementation for Croatian civil servants has contributed to a thorough preparation for the challenges associated with the forthcoming accession of Croatia to the European Union.

The workshops and training sessions for the Croatian Judicial Academy trainers and managers, and judges and public prosecutors on certain specialised fields of EU law have contributed to a better understanding and increased knowledge of the principles of these parts of European legislation and related regulations. In addition, the practical peer-to-peer working meetings with Dutch counterparts have enabled Croatian practitioners to establish good contacts with colleagues of this EU member state, providing for a more direct and familiar working relation in the future.