Improving how legal aid systems are measured and compared across countries was at the centre of a regional workshop organised by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) on 25-26 March in Budva, Montenegro.

Titled: “From legal frameworks to comparable data and policy use”, the workshop brought together CEPEJ correspondents responsible for providing data, as well as representatives of the relevant authorities from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo* for the Western Balkans, and from Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine for the Eastern Partnership.

Discussions focused on the revised CEPEJ questionnaire, specifically on legal aid questions, which aim to improve clarity and comparability of data by refining distinctions between criminal and non-criminal matters, modalities of legal aid, eligibility criteria, procedural aspects and statistical outputs.

Over the two days, participants worked towards a common understanding of definitions and institutional models, addressed methodological and statistical challenges related to counting and measurement units, explored the links between legal aid volumes and budgets, and exchanged good practices to strengthen the production of accurate, comparable and policy-relevant legal aid data across both regions.

The event was organised within the action “Towards a better evaluation of the results of judicial reforms in the Western Balkans (Dashboard Western Balkans)” and the project “Support for a better evaluation of the results of judicial reform efforts in the Eastern Partnership (Justice Dashboard EaP)”, which are funded under the joint European Union and Council of Europe programmes “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye” and “Partnership for Good Governance“ respectively.

* This designation is without prejudice to position on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence