Presentation of the key findings from the Serbia Judicial Functional Review at the Partner's Forum, October 21, 2014

On October 21st, 2014 the Ministry of Justice convened the 7th Partner’s Forum to present the draft Action Plan for Chapter 23 as well as current and planned activities to justice sector officials and donor representatives. The Multi-Donor Trust Fund for Justice Sector Support (MDTF-JSS) in Serbia was kindly invited to present its work on the Judicial Functional Review.

Mr. Klaus Decker, Task Team Leader of the MDTF-JSS, and Ms. Marina Matic, Consultant, presented on behalf of the Judicial Functional Review team. They explained the objectives of the Review, i. e. to create an objective and data-rich baseline for Serbia’s accession negotiations under Chapter 23, to provide analytic input that can inform Serbia’s opening benchmarks under Chapter 23, and to enable Serbia and the EU to measure progress in reforms throughout the negotiations of Chapter 23. They outlined the scope and the methodology as well as a summary of findings with respect to performance of the judicial system in terms of service delivery and management of resources. The presentation can be accessed here.

Mr. Decker and Ms. Matic explained that the Functional Review recommendations feed into the Action Plan that the Serbian authorities would present in detail during the Partners Forum. They provide a detailed menu for Serbia and the EU to prioritize and agree upon, they align with specific items of the National Judicial Reform Strategy and outline who is responsible, indicating timelines synchronizing with those in the National Judicial Reform Strategy. For the MDTF-JSS, the next step will be to update its program framework to reflect Action Plan priorities.