Details

Croatia has finished the negotiations process with the EU at the latest with the accession on 1st of July 2013; on 29th of March 2012 European Commission launches a High Level Accession Dialogue with Skopje; Montenegro started negotiations on 29th of June 2012.

The continuous improvement of the accession process, especially in the part of the imposing criteria and benchmarks for opening and closing chapters, has necessitated continuous adjustment and learning by the accession countries. The project aims at comparing and contrasting the Rule of law criteria and benchmarks in Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia.

The project will be scrutinizing the criteria and benchmarks set for chapter 23 of the acquis communautaire i.e. Judiciary and Fundamental Rights. Given the scope of this chapter and the large number of institutions which are involved in the relevant reforms, the assessment would have to prioritize some of the areas of the chapter. Thus it would focus particularly on civil and political rights, as well as anti-corruption policy.

The institutions have to be prepared for what is coming and adjust in time to meet the continuously evolving criteria and benchmarks imposed by the EC. In this sense, the expected result of the project is to publish a comparative analysis of the challenges of Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia in the area of Rule of Law (chapter 23). What kind of benchmarks could be further developed in this area? What is Montenegro doing concerning fulfilling the criteria? What is the current situation in Macedonia with regards to these benchmarks? What can we learn from the case of Croatia in this regard?

Programme:

-Presentation of the publication, s.o.

-Macedonian perspectives in light of the EU Enlargement strategy 2013 – 2014