SUPPORT TO THE WORKING GROUP ON THE DELINEATION OF BUDGET AUTHORITIES BETWEEN THE HJC AND THE MoJ

The Project actively supports the efforts of the Working Group on the normative delineation of budget authorities between the Council and the Ministry of Justice with the aim of defining optimal solutions which could be applied in the future regulatory framework.

At the second meeting of this WG which was held on March 6, 2019 in the Project’s Office part of the discussion revolved around the main elements of programme budgeting of costs in the judiciary which are, by using budgeting programme as the main instrument (segment), brought under planned performance (number and kind of court cases to be resolved, the number of judges and other staff necessary for that and the amount of time and financial resources which have to be allocated in the budget for these purposes). During the meeting the representatives of the Project presented the main elements of programme budgeting, gave an overview of the current state of the budgeting process, and made suggestions for the improvement of the budgeting process. The Project representatives have beside principal EU standards in this field, also presented the stages in the budgeting process (qualitative and quantitative) and talked about the separation process regarding the holders of activities and responsibilities.

At the meeting with the representatives of the Ministry of Justice, which took place in Belgrade on December 23, 2019, whose topic was cooperation of the Project with the mentioned WG, and especially with the Ministry of Justice and the Council the discussion was about Project’s support for the work of all working groups on drafting the Human Resources Strategy, delineation of budget authorities between the HJC and the MoJ, amendments to the Law on Judges, the Law on Court Organisation and the Law on the HJC and providing special support to the case weighting system in general and special jurisdiction courts. Cooperation was also offered for the implementation of the new Questionnaire of the Council of Europe and the EU „Dashboard Western Balkans“ – CEPEJ.