The Council of Europe is implementing the Action “Strengthening Independence and Accountability of the Judiciary in Serbia” as a part of the European Union and Council of Europe programmatic framework “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II” (Horizontal Facility).

The three-years Action focuses on the building capacities of judges, prosecutors, judicial and prosecutorial assistants to detect and counter risks of undue influence and to reinforce internal mechanisms, rules and procedures within the High Judicial Council (HJC) and the State Prosecutorial Council (SPC) to ensure guarantees of judicial and prosecutorial independence.

Shortcomings within the Serbian judiciary in the sphere of ethics and integrity will be addressed as well, by working with the Ministry of Justice to develop and/or to improve the relevant legislature, by supporting the HJC and the SPC ethics committees, and by designing measures to introduce a system of confidential counselling within both the judiciary and the prosecution service.

The establishment of a fair and merit-based system of performance evaluation and career advancement of judicial professionals is a further expected outcome of the Action.

Finally, the Action intends to enhance the co-operation and the information flow between the executive and the judiciary.