Director of the Judicial Academy Mr. Nenad Vujić and Deputy Director Mrs. Maja Prelić Simović had the honor and pleasure of hosting the delegationEuropean Judicial Training Networks (EJTNs), led by the newly elected Secretary General, Mrs. Ingrid Dervo during her first official mission to the Western Balkans region and the Republic of Serbia. In addition to Mrs. Dervo, the delegation of the mission consisted of Mrs. Vanja Tekić, manager of the Western Balkans II Project, and Mr. Giovanni Pascua, team leader of the Western Balkans II Project.

One of the goals of the visit was to plan further cooperation between the Judicial Academy and the European Judicial Training Network, which is at an increasingly high level every year, as shown by the holding of the Grand Final of the THEMIS competition in Belgrade in December 2022. The basis of further strengthening of joint cooperation is the European Union Project Western Balkans II implemented by the European Judicial Training Network, which enables the exchange of domestic judges and prosecutors with judicial institutions within the Network and attendance at Network seminars, as well as strengthening the capacity of the Judicial Academy and support in curriculum development training in EU law for users of permanent and initial training of the Judicial Academy, with the ultimate goal of harmonizing national regulations with EU legal standards and Luxembourg court practice.

The activities of the Western Balkans II project, so far, have included focus groups with representatives of the judiciary, work on the development of a standardized questionnaire for examining educational needs and improvement and functionalization of the training curriculum in the field of EU law, analysis of needs and joint work on designing training programs and their future realization. Focus groups were organized in two cycles during December and January. The participants, in addition to experts on the project, judges Juan Carlos da Silva and Matej Čujović, included representatives of courts and prosecutor's offices of general and special jurisdiction from the territory of all four appeals.

The main goal of the focus groups was to determine more closely the priority topics, the adequate work methodology, as well as the selection of the most adequate lecturers for the implementation of the future training program. In the work of the focus group, in addition to the director of the Judicial Academy, Mr. Nenad Vujić and the deputy director, Mrs. Maja Prelić-Simović, representatives of the Department for Research and Improvement of Education, the Department for Permanent Training and the Department for International Cooperation and Projects actively participated.

Representatives of the Department for Research and Improvement of Education presented the results of the conducted needs analysis, which will be the initial basis for the upcoming activities.

The Judicial Academy is very much looking forward to the continuation of successful joint work on the implementation of agreed project activities, as well as further strengthening of cooperation with colleagues from the region.

You can find more about EJTN's mission at the following link:https://ejtn.eu/news/ejtn-launches-official-visits-to-the-western-balkans-to-support-eu-integration-and-judicial-training-and-reform/