Details

Event held in Pristina to celebrate the conclusion of the EU twinning project on legal harmonisation

Published: May 27, 2019
Ardian Bajraktari, Project Manager, Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Kosovo; Riccardo Serri, Acting Head of Office, EUO/EUSR in Kosovo; Abelard Tahiri, Minister of Justice for the Republic of Kosovo; Ambassador Christian Heldt, German Embassy in Kosovo; Ulrich Hermanski, Project Manager, IRZ; Dr. Julie Trappe, Resident Twinning Adviser, IRZ (from left to right)
Ardian Bajraktari, Project Manager, Ministry of Justice for the Republic of Kosovo; Riccardo Serri, Acting Head of Office, EUO/EUSR in Kosovo; Abelard Tahiri, Minister of Justice for the Republic of Kosovo; Ambassador Christian Heldt, German Embassy in Kosovo; Ulrich Hermanski, Project Manager, IRZ; Dr. Julie Trappe, Resident Twinning Adviser, IRZ (from left to right)
Kosovo

On 16 May 2019, an event was held in the Kosovan capital, Pristina, to celebrate the conclusion of the EU twinning project on “Strengthening policy formulation and legislative drafting” implemented by the IRZ. This event was attended by the Minister of Justice for Kosovo, Abelard Tahiri. During his speech, he underlined the importance of the project for Kosovo’s ultimate goal of entering the EU.

The EU twinning project led on from the successful cooperation between the IRZ and the Kosovan Ministry of Justice, which has been in place since 2009. Since the start of the project in 2016, the IRZ has supported the Ministry in the following areas:

  • Strategic planning in the justice system,
  • legal harmonisation and legislation,
  • the effective implementation of laws and
  • justice and the media.

100 missions have been carried out on these subjects in the form of workshops, training sessions and consultation visits by 40 short-term experts from five different countries (Germany, Croatia, Slovenia, France and the Netherlands).

Over the past few months, there has been a particular focus on supporting the Ministry of Justice with the “Functional Review of the Rule of Law Sector”, a large-scale analysis of the justice sector from the point of view of the EU alignment process. 

The close collaboration with the Kosovan Ministry of Justice has resulted, amongst other things, in various draft laws, for example on Private International Law and legal aid for civil law cases. It has also resulted in commentaries on legal aid in criminal cases. Employees at the Ministry of Justice have been trained in specific examples of regulatory impact analysis and ex-post assessment. There has also been a regular exchange of experiences with experts from various European countries on the subjects of communications and public relations.

Even after the twinning project has ended, the IRZ will continue to work with the Kosovan Ministry of Justice in the future and will also continue to support Kosovo in the process of joining the EU.