The EU and Council of Europe joint action on “Strengthening the quality and efficiency of justice” (KoSEJ III) organised its first Steering Committee meeting with the participation of key partners and beneficiaries.

Following welcoming remarks of Frank Power, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Pristina and Nicola Scaramuzzo, Team Leader for the Rule of Law in the European Union Office, Albert Zogaj, Chairman of the Kosovo Judicial Council (KJC); Jetish Maloku, Chairman of the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC); Selvije Elezaj, Head of Policy Coordination Division in the Ministry of Justice (MoJ); Enver Fejzullahu, Director of the Justice Academy delivered opening speeches.

The action team presented the areas of action foreseen for the upcoming months. First, the action will support justice institutions in making a full use of statistics to guide their policy decisions, at court level, Councils level and Ministry level. Another important component will be to provide expertise for the further digitalisation of courts with the use of e-summonses and the elaboration of the KJC IT strategic plan. The action will also address the issue of Data Quality, by working with the users in the courts as well as ensuring that they make a consistent and full use of the Case Management Information System. Finally, the action will continue the training on CEPEJ tools in co-operation with the Justice Academy.

The discussion on the objectives and key milestones for the future, is based on the needs and priorities of the respective beneficiaries and paying specific attention to the Joint Commitment on justice reform signed between the Ministry of Justice, the KJC, and KPC at the beginning of the week.

The KoSEJ III action is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe implemented by the Council of Europe under the Horizontal Facility III.