I am grateful for the opportunity to provide you with the perspective of the European Union.

Let
me first introduce myself. As Head of Operations of the EU Delegation
to Bosnia and Herzegovina I am responsible for the financial assistance
the EU is providing to prepare Bosnia and Herzegovina for EU membership.

With a team of about 70 staff, we are at present managing more
than 200 on-going contracts in the value of more than 200 million euro,
and preparing for the implementation of already approved projects in the
value of another 160 million euro.

These projects concern all
sectors where preparation for EU membership is needed, from public
administration reform and support for the judiciary, to sectors such as
environment, transport, social inclusion, education, employment, or
civil society development.

The judiciary has been a particular important area of our assistance for many years, and will remain so in the years ahead.

Why is this sector so important for the EU?

First,
the Rule of Law is the very foundation on which the European Union is
built, and an independent and efficient judiciary is a prerequisite for
the Rule of Law.

Second, the judiciary in any member state of the
EU is playing a crucial role in interpreting and enforcing “EU Law” and
this requires highly skilled and efficient judges.   

Third, we
know from previous accession processes that reforms in the judiciary are
complex and take time and resources. Therefore, reforms need to start
early in the accession process.

The Structured Dialogue on
justice between the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina and the significant
financial assistance we are providing to the sector are an expression of
this recognition.

Let me now give you an overview of our assistance, looking at the past and the future.

In
the initial phase our support was focused on judicial independence and
accountability: we supported the re-appointment process for judges and
prosecutors and the establishment of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial
Council (HJPC), including the Office of the Disciplinary Counsel.

The
HJPC has been both a recipient of EU financial support and, maybe even
more importantly, a partner for implementation of projects at the level
of courts and prosecutors’ offices across the country.

The EU
believes that the establishment of the single HJPC with competences to
both appoint and discipline judges and prosecutors was a major
achievement that needs to be safeguarded.

Under the leadership
of dedicated and capable Presidents – first Judge Branko Peric and now
Judge Milorad Novkovic – the HJPC has indeed managed to navigate in
difficult waters and further embed, institutionalize and strengthen the
independence of the judiciary.

The HJPC will continue to have
the full support of the EU in this endeavour. I am saying this being
fully aware that independence and accountability cannot be taken for
granted, and need to be defended wherever and whenever they are under
threat.  

In the second phase of our support to the judiciary,
since 2008, our cooperation has focused mostly on making the judiciary
more efficient. The major part of the total 30 million € which we have
invested in Bosnia and Herzegovina to strengthen the judiciary over the
last years has been allocated for this purpose.

A core aim of our
support was the gradual introduction of a modern, electronic case
management system (CMS) for courts and prosecutors’ offices.  

I
consider it a major success that the CMS has been developed locally. The
system, that all of you are using on a daily basis, is advanced and
modern even in the European context!

The EU has also invested significant funds in IT equipment for courts and prosecutor offices throughout the country.

The strengthening of the efficiency of the judiciary will remain our main focus over the next several years:

–  
 Through agreements with the HJPC, the EU will contribute to the
financing of the development and deployment of the next generation of
the Case Management System, as well as the modernisation of equipment in
the judiciary.
–    To enhance efficiency, the EU will also finance
the reconstruction and renovation of a number of courts and prosecutors’
offices across the country. A total of 17 million Euro have been
provided for this purpose! We are working closely with the Ministries of
Justice and the HJPC, and I expect the first reconstructions to start
next year.  
–    We will work with the Ministries of Justice to strengthen strategic planning capacities and coordination.
–  
 Finally, the EU will provide around 14 million Euro to prosecutors’
offices and courts at all levels supporting the efficient processing of
war crimes cases, including for the recruitment of additional staff.

Based
on the above, our total support to making courts and prosecutors’
offices more efficient over the next years will amount to around 40
million Euro. This represents a significant reinforcement of the
commitment by the EU to the further strengthening of judicial efficiency
in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We will ensure that our assistance
is delivered in close cooperation with other donors active in the
justice sector, in particular Sweden and Norway.

But let me also
look even further ahead. We are already now reflecting on the
orientation of our future assistance over the long term.

To do
this we basically have to anticipate where the judiciary will be several
years from now, and target our financial assistance in a way that it
meets future needs.

Let me share some preliminary thoughts on this.

Generally,
I would not expect that support to Information and Communication
Technology will remain a mainstay of our assistance over the long term.
After the development and deployment of the new CMS will have been
completed, we would expect the national budgets to finance both future
operational costs and capital expenditure related to the use of
information and communication technology.

The same goes for investments in buildings where we would expect governments at all levels to shoulder the necessary burden.

I believe that an important area for our support over the long term will be what could be called “justice for growth”.

The
rule of law needs to provide a stable framework in which economic
activity can thrive, with corruption and organised crime being held in
check. And as Bosnia and Herzegovina will get closer to EU membership,
it will be necessary to prepare the judiciary for challenges resulting
from the participation  in the internal market of the EU and on how
courts can contribute to economic growth in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This
will thus require more specialized assistance relating to commercial
cases as well as investigation and prosecution of economic crime and
corruption cases.

Likewise, and in line with the developments
within the EU Member States, I expect that IPA assistance will focus
increasingly on what can be called “justice for citizens”. This
expression underlines that the judiciary ultimately is to serve the
citizens.

I would like to mention in this context that the
European Commission has introduced a scoreboard ranking of the services
of the judiciary vis-à-vis their citizens and the business community.
Access to justice through legal aid or the use of mediation in civil
cases are examples of areas where progress can be made.

We should
also recognize that Rule of Law requires the entire “chain of justice”
to be functional. As the capacity of prosecutors’ offices and courts to
process criminal cases has increased, we have seen that the system for
enforcement of criminal sanctions has been lagging behind. To address
this issue it is necessary to expand prison capacity and further develop
the regime of alternative criminal sanctions.    

Assuming that
the current political blockages to EU financial assistance are overcome,
the European Commission will enter into a dialogue with the relevant
authorities in BiH to jointly reflect on the future strategic priorities
for EU financial assistance to the sector. I would like to encourage
Ministries and Justice and the judiciary to prepare for and actively
participate in this reflection.
 
Please allow me to conclude my speech now with a few personal words.

Having
served in the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first
time ten years ago, I admit that I had hoped that greater political
progress towards EU accession would have been achieved over the past
decade.

Notwithstanding the slow pace of overall reforms, I
sincerely believe that the reforms and the achievements in the judiciary
over the past decade have indeed been significant. The independence of
the judiciary has been embedded and defended. Lack of efficiency remains
a major concern, but the ground is prepared to achieve a significant
reduction of the backlog of cases over the coming years. The EU will
assist in this effort.

In closing my speech I would like to
express my appreciation to all in this room who have contributed to the
achievements made.  And I would like to assure you of our determination,
politically and financially, to assist you in further reforms and
continue our close cooperation.

end