Promoting Judicial Independence in Central and Eastern Europe

As part of our continuing engagement with the judiciaries from across the Central and East European region, the CEELI Institute recently co-sponsored an event, in cooperation with the Supreme Court of Macedonia addressing the ongoing challenges to judicial independence across the region—both within and without the EU. The program, held in late October, at Lake Ohrid, drew over 70 participants, including judges from Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Georgia, Kosovo, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia and Slovenia. The event provided a critically important platform for judges to exchange views and experiences in how best to respond to increasing external pressures on the judiciary. Particular attention was devoted to how judges can most effectively cope with pressures from the media, from the government and from external political sources, without compromising their integrity. For judiciaries still emerging from communist past, these issues have never been fully resolved. Judges in the region must continue to grapple with balancing their accountability and independence. This event was also generously supported by the US Embassy in Skopje and by the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL).