Aims
  • To further enhance professionalism, accountability and the overall quality of service of the judicial system of Montenegro
  • To ensure functioning of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, Centre for Training, as well as of the Center for Mediation on Montenegro in line with European best practices and standards
  • Focusing on ethics, liability and integrity, the Action will further strengthen, improve or in some cases assist to create the relevant ethical codes and mechanisms for monitoring the compliance among legal professions such as lawyers, bailiffs, notaries and court experts
Duration
The project will be over a period of 36 months (24/05/2019-23/05/2022)
Budget
  • The total budget of the Action is 800.000 EUR
  • The budget allocated to the overall Horizontal Facility programme amounts to ca. 41 Million EUR (85% funded by the European Union, 15% by the Council of Europe)
Beneficiaries
  • Citizens of Montenegro, who will benefit from modernised judicial administration and institutions, through user-centered approach, as well as professional and ethical judiciary and legal professionals
  • Judicial Council, Prosecutorial Council, Supreme Court of Montenegro, Office of the Supreme State Prosecutor, Center for Training in Judiciary and State Prosecution Service (JTC), Ministry of Justice of Montenegro, Bar Association, Chamber of Public Bailiffs, Chamber of Notaries, Association of Court Experts, Association of Court Interpreters and Center for Mediation of Montenegro
Publication

Code of Ethics for Notaries in Montenegro (Eng, Montenegrin)

How will the action work
  • Through capacity building of crucial judicial institutions in Montenegro
  • Through creation of ethical codes and mechanisms for monitoring the compliance
  • Through providing expertise to the relevant bodies in Montenegrin justice system
  • Through promotion of the judiciary, mediation and quality of mediation services and tools for their monitoring and improvement
  • The Action builds upon the results achieved by the Action “Accountability of the Judicial System” (HF14), implemented in the Horizontal Facility phase I (2016 – 2019)
Expected results
  • Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, as well as Courts and Prosecutorial offices, improve the financial and administrative management of their institutions and the communication with court users.
  • Judges, prosecutors and other legal professionals improve their application of ethical and disciplinary procedures in line with European standards and best practices.
  • Judges and prosecutors are recruited, promoted and evaluated according to improved standards
  • Center for Training in Judiciary and State Prosecution Service is efficient, using confidently and applying new approaches and methods to plan, implement, evaluate and improve training programs for judges and prosecutors
  • The Centre for Mediation improves its effectiveness and functioning
How to get further information
Montenegrin website
Project news

Back Performance-based management in courts and prosecution offices: from programme budgeting to financial control

Montenegro - Horizontal Facility: Accountability and professionalism of the judicial system
Photo: Shutterstock

Photo: Shutterstock

Regardless of the size and complexity of the court or prosecution office, financial management systems should be able to show a relationship between the proposed expenditures and anticipated outcomes in a year covered by the budget. In other words, one should demonstrate who did what, when they did it, what were the outcomes and what or how much was involved.

The Functional Reviews conducted in 2018 under the first phase of the joint European Union/Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” indicated that the Montenegrin budget system scored poorly in terms of its capacity for effective resource allocation. The European Commission 2019 Report also outlined a need to improve internal financial control, stating that the accountability is limited by a primary focus on compliance, rather than on performance. To allow for more systematic presentation of objectives and performance indicators in the judiciary, two analyses have been produced and presented recently, reviewing national judicial performance frameworks and presenting good management practices in Austria, Netherlands, France and Germany.

Based on best European practices, a custom-made performance-based model has been developed, using links among court/prosecutions resources and number of solved cases to allow for better performance management and budgetary decision-making and execution. Statistical models for allocation of human and financial resources have been proposed to help prepare the Montenegrin judicial system for a transition from cost-based budgeting to case- flow demand model, leading to better internal control and better audit results. As such, the analyses are seen as an important tool for implementing Public Internal Financial Control promoted by the EU under acquis Chapter 32 (Financial control).

The analyses have been produced within the action “Accountability and professionalism of the judicial system in Montenegro”, which is a part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe Programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022”, implemented by the Council of Europe.

Also available in Montengrin from their website

Podgorica, Montenegro 16 November 2020
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