EC and CoE help judiciary reform

TIRANA, Feb. 9 – The European Commission and the Council of Europe has launched a jointly funded project, worth 400 000 Euros, to support the School of Magistrates of Albania.
The project aims to enhance the management and operational capacity of the School, including its financial sustainability and institutional development. For the next 18 months, the Council of Europe will work closely with the School’s team and the courts, focusing on the training of 360 magistrates, 60 teachers and 20 students.
The opening event of the EU-funded project implemented by the Council of Europe “Support to the Sustainability of the School of Magistrates of Albania” was hosted today by the Head of the European Commission Delegation to Albania, Ambassador Helmuth Lohan, Arjana Fullani, Director of the School of Magistrates and Margaret Killerby, Director a.i. of Cooperation in Human Rights and Legal Affairs from the Council of Europe.
“The project will help set up a funding mechanism for the school that does not rely on external assistance. At the same time, the school should remain an independent institution within the judiciary that provides for education and training for Albanian’s judges and prosecutors. This and the financial sustainability of the magistrates’ school are also priorities of the European Partnership in the judicial reform sector,” said Ambassador Lohan.
With the Director of Cooperation in Human Rights and Legal Affairs from the Council of Europe, Killerby stressed that, “A high quality justice system for citizens is closely linked to the appointment of able and independent magistrates who have reached a high standard after following high level legal and judicial training”.
The Council of Europe and the European Commission have been working together in Albania since 1993 through successive joint programs, with a focus on reforming the legal system and raising human rights standards to European levels.
In the framework of this project, the main resident expert, Mihai Selegean, Director of the National Institute of Magistracy of Romania, will be located in the School of Magistrates, to provide practical advice on matters related to the financial management and institutional developments of the School.