Strategic documents for the continuation of reform processes have been adopted

The Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted the National Judicial Development Strategy for the period 2020−2025 and the revised Action Plan for Chapter 23. Together, these strategic documents stand for the continuation of reform processes in the rule of law.

The new Strategy 2020-2025 is a continuation of the previous judicial strategy and the efforts towards the improvement of judicial efficiency. The new Strategy has been developed in line with the next steps in the process of Serbia’s accession to the European Union, and for the purpose of strengthening the rule of law in the country, increasing access to justice and legal certainty, thus achieving quality and efficient protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms.  

The Ministry of Justice published the first draft of the Strategy in January 2019, at the start of the process of a wider consultative review, and the final version of the Strategy at the end of June 2019 which had been consolidated with the commentaries shared during the public hearing.

The Strategy was being drafted in parallel with the revision of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 which also serves as the Action Plan for the Strategy implementation. The entire process was transparent and inclusive, with a high degree of consideration of civil society organisations’ opinions and recommendations as can be attested by the fact that over 50 percent of their recommendations were accepted and implemented.   

The Ministry of Justice notes that all comments by state bodies, civil society organisations and the National Convention on the European Union had also been considered, to which end several special meetings on the subject of all the relevant sub-chapters were organised. The draft of the revised Action Plan for Chapter 23 was amended to reflect the accepted proposals by the National Convention on the European Union, including the changes to certain deadlines. Equally, the European Commission’s assessment of and opinion on the revised Action Plan for Chapter 23, too, have been incorporated into the document.

In effect, all comments were carefully reviewed and considered, and the report on the public consultations conducted has been published on the Justice Ministry’s website. The result of the entire process of consultative review is an Action Plan with coordinated reform activities of over 40 institutions of the Republic of Serbia planned for the following period.