The Consolidation of the Justice System in Albania (EURALIUS) was an EU funded technical assistance project that sought the strengthening of the Albanian Justice System. The objective of EURALIUS was to strengthen the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

, transparency,

efficiency Efficiency is the often measurable ability to avoid wasting materials, energy, efforts, money, and time in doing something or in producing a desired result. In a more general sense, it is the ability to do things well, successfully, and without ...

accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the publ ...

and

public trust The concept of public trust relates back to the origins of democratic government and its seminal idea that within the public lies the true power and future of a society; therefore, whatever ''trust'' citizens place in its officials must be respect ...

in the Albanian

justice system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, statutory law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history and ...

in line with the ''EU

Acquis The Community acquis or ''acquis communautaire'' (; ), sometimes called the EU acquis and often shortened to acquis, is the accumulated legislation, legal acts and court decisions that constitute the body of European Union law that came into b ...

'' and best practices. EURALIUS was composed of long-term international

expert An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...

s from various EU

Member States A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign states ...

and of Albanian legal professionals who act as national experts, as well as support staff consisting of project assistants, translators, etc. The transformation of the

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

n justice system toward EU standards was a condition and a process that aimed to restore the people's confidence to the justice system, to the consolidation of the democracy and to the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

as required by the

Stabilization and Association Agreement In talks with countries that have expressed a wish to join the European Union, the EU typically concludes Association Agreements in exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade, or human rights reform in that country. In exchange, th ...

. The EU had devised specific instruments in order to facilitate the country's accession and fulfillment of the conditions. Concerning the consolidation of the justice system in Albania, the EU funded the EURALIUS project. Among the Albanian project partners and beneficiaries were the Ministry of Justice, the Judiciary (Courts), the High Council of Justice, the Prosecution Office, the Parliament of Albania, the Office for the Administration of the Judicial Budget, the School of Magistrates, the National Chamber of Advocacy and the National Chamber of Notaries.

The project through the years

Since

submitted its application for

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

membership, it had to meet the membership criteria and key priorities set out in the Commission's

Opinion An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, rather than facts, which are true statements. Definition A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with f ...

. One of the major requirements for the EU membership is the Functioning of the

Judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

. Therefore, the Commission Report on Albania (2015) has stated that: "Albania's judicial system is at an early stage of preparation. Besides, the perception of the public toward the justice system in Albania is very low. To consolidate the justice in Albania and to strengthen the transparency,

and the public trust in the Albanian justice system, the EU funded the EURALIUS project. Initially, the project was operating under the Albania CARDS 2002 programme in the form of the ''EURALIUS I'' mission. Then, during the period 2007-2010, the project was undertaken by the ''EURALIUS II'' mission. The project contractor for the first two missions was the Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice and managed by the Center of Legal Competence (CLC). The main objective remained to development of a more independent, neutral, effective, proficient, transparent and modern justice system in Albania, therefore contributing to the restoring of people's confidence in their institutions. ''Euralius III'' started on 15 September 2010 and was finalized on 15 June 2013. This mission was managed by International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies ( FIIAPP) and had similar objectives as the previous missions. ''EURALIUS IV'' started in September 2014 and ended in March 2018. EURALIUS IV implementation was awarded to a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

led by the German Deutsche Stiftung für Internationale Zusammenarbeit e.V. ( IRZ), in cooperation with the Dutch Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC) and the Austrian Agency for Economic Cooperation and Development (aed), which are all mandated bodies of respective Ministries of Justice. The main objective of the project was to assist the Albanian justice

institutions Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...

in bringing their enactment closer to the EU standards. Except from supporting the work on judicial reform, the project was also charged with implementing a diverse array of objectives, arranged around the following components: Justice Reform and Organization of the Ministry; High Council of Justice (HCJ) and High Court; Criminal Justice and Prosecution Office; Judicial Administration and Efficiency; Legal Professions; Change Management; High Judicial Inspectorate (HJI); Court Organisation and Management; High Prosecutorial Council and Prosecution Offices; and Judicial Training. ''EURALIUS V'' started in April 2018 and ended in December 2021. Following the comprehensive justice reform accompanied by EURALIUS IV, EURALIUS V focused on supporting the justice institutions to consolidate the justice system. The project was implemented by a consortium composed of the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) as Lead Partner. IRZ is mandated by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection. Junior partners were the Dutch Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC), Austrian Agency for Economic Cooperation and Development (aed) and the Italian High Council for the Judiciary (CSM). ''EURALIUS V'' concentrated its assistance on five main areas of intervention, namely legal initiatives and capacity building of the Ministry of Justice and Parliament; Justice Governance institutions; Consolidation of courts, prosecutions offices and free legal professions; Information technology in the justice sector and judicial training.

Justice Reform

''EURALIUS'' played an important role in the consolidation of the justice system in

, especially through the contribution of the EURALIUS IV mission in the setting up of the Justice Reform process. Throughout the reform, the international and

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...

al experts have assisted the process of drafting the Albanian legislation, amendments to the laws in the justice sector and supported the set up and strengthening of Albanian institutions. A pivotal part of the Justice Reform process was the approval of the constitutional amendments by the

Albanian Assembly The Parliament of Albania ( sq, Kuvendi i Shqipërisë) or Kuvendi is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Albania; it is Albania's legislature. The Parliament is composed of no less than 140 members elected to a ...

on 21 July 2016, and of the legislative package of Organic Reform Laws, with the most important being the Law on the Transitional Re-evaluation of Judges and Prosecutors of the Republic of Albania.http://www.euralius.eu/images/Justice-Reform/Law-no-84-date-30-08-2016-on-the-Transition-re-evaluation-of-the-judges-and-prosecutors-of-the-Republic-of-Albania.pdf

References

External links

* {{Albania topics Law of Albania Judiciary of Albania