Participants in the final conference on the reform of the judiciary and support to the Croatian Justice Academy, which was held in Zagreb on Wednesday, agreed that the EUR 1.5-million project had produced good results.
The project was financed with funds from the European Union's CARDS programme.
The head of the European Commission Delegation to Croatia, Vincent Degert, said that in less than a year the Academy had made a great step in the education of judges, which he said was very important for the promotion of the rule of law as one of the basic pillars of the European Union.
He stressed the importance of ensuring a system of education of judges in accordance with European standards.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said Croatia was ready for such challenges as the country was not entering the EU only to be a part of "an elite club" but also because of its wish to participate in the building of a new Europe marked by peace and prosperity.
Sanader recalled that in recent years Croatia had used over 260 million euros of CARDS funds for the implementation of 114 various projects.
As part of the project aimed at the training of judicial authorities, over 1,000 judges and prosecutors have so far passed the system of improved training in regional centres in Zagreb and Rijeka. They have attended about 60 workshops on 17 topics from the field of domestic and international law.
The Justice Academy is planning to open another three regional centres in Split, Osijek and Varazdin, said the head of the project team, Wolfgang Rusch.
Croatian Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt said that the training of judges and prosecutors helped cut the duration of court proceedings and improve court efficiency.