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
Montenegrin website

Project news

Back Workshops for judicial officials on performance-based financial management and control organised in Montenegro

Montenegro - Horizontal Facility: Accountability and professionalism of the judicial system
© Council of Europe

© Council of Europe

Two workshops for court presidents, heads of prosecution offices and members of secretariats of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Council responsible for financial administration were organised in Budva, in co-operation with the Judicial Training Centre. The workshops were designed in line with the Judicial Reform Strategy 2019 – 2022 and its Action Plan for 2019/2020 with the aim to increase managerial capacities of judicial officials on performance measurement and financial decision-making and execution.

Financial and organisational management is indeed considered a critical foundation on which the judicial effectiveness lies. The way justice is dispensed is always interlinked with how funds are allocated and results delivered. In other words, judicial budgets should clearly communicate economic and statistical information on the work of judiciary, while providing for a clear signal of what judicial financial priorities are.

Montenegro is recognised for having in place credible financial accountability mechanisms and dedicating significant amounts of funds to the judiciary. However, the approach to financial management is traditionally rule-driven and focused on accounting compliance, rather than on results-based accounting. To achieve benchmarks in acquis Chapter 32 on financial control in the public sector, Montenegrin judiciary needs to shift from cost-based to programming budgeting that will take place as of 2022.

During these on-demand workshops, Council of Europe international consultants presented a wide range of practical information on financial management, including on Key Performance Indicators that courts and prosecution can use to improve their financial management operations. An easy-to-understand explanation of key functional requirements for definition of strategic and budget goals was provided, drawing on the Austrian, German, Dutch and Norwegian models and tools that judicial leaders can utilise to monitor the performance and bring better financial decisions. CoE consultants also prepared and demonstrated pilot case-flow budgets for Montenegrin basic courts and prosecution offices, to allow court and prosecution leaders to directly understand how modern financial management processes should look like, starting from an initial budget planning through monitoring of one year budget’s execution to entering a new results-based budgetary process.

The workshops have been organised within the action “Accountability and professionalism of the judicial system in Montenegro”, (Montenegrin website)  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.

Budva, Montenegro 3 December 2020
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