12th EUKOJUST Steering Committee: to be continued?
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- Published: November 30, 2023
The 12th Steering Committee Meeting of the EU project EUKOJUST was held on 30 October 2023 in Pristina (Kosovo). The IRZ has been conducting this project for over three years in collaboration with the Dutch partner organisation, CILC, and the Croatian Ministry of Justice and Administration.
The meeting was opened by, among others, the Minister of Justice of Kosovo, Ms. Albulena Haxhiu, the Ambassador of Germany, Mr. Jörn Rohde, and the Ambassador of Croatia, Danijela Barisic. The Minister highlighted the important role of the project in the country's ongoing judicial reform and stressed the relevance and usefulness of the work results arising from the project for the institutions, both in terms of numerous legal reforms and the restructuring of the Ministry of Justice or in the area of “access to the judiciary for all population groups”. This appreciation was seconded by the Presidents of the Councils (Judicial Council and Public Prosecutor's Council of Kosovo), Albert Zogaj and Jetish Maloku, and Enver Fejzullahu, Director of the Judicial Academy.
In addition, all the stakeholders renewed their wish to extend the project beyond January 2024, when the project is scheduled to end. We are currently coordinating a cost-neutral extension of the project by a few months with the EU office in Kosovo. A further extension up to the end 2024 is also under discussion, but cannot currently take place because, due to the stalled political dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia, measures by the European Union against Kosovo prevent the release of further funds.
The diversity of the EU project's project activities was illustrated by the other items on the agenda this week along with the SCM:
- 2-day workshop for the staff of the Legal Department of the Prime Minister's Office to finalise the reformed internal regulations on legal harmonisation
- Working group meeting to draft a new law on administrative court jurisdiction
- The award of completion certificates to employees of the Ministry of Justice (including the departments for Legislation and EU Integration) for their successful participation in English legal terminology courses at two difficulty levels.
The IRZ, its partners and the project beneficiaries are continuing to work on options to extend the project to ensure it is not terminated in this important phase.
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