Addressing the ceremony, President Josipovic said that "there were objections about the Croatian judiciary, but great progress has been made."
He added that the radical changes in the legislation as well as in practice had been necessary for the ensuing establishment of a new system of appointment and promotion of judicial officials, including judges and state prosecutors, as well as for closing the policy chapter No. 23, "Judiciary and Fundamental Rights", within Croatia's European Union accession negotiations.
He said he expected the judicial reform to continue but as a matter of routine rather than being dramatic.
Josipovic believes that the state school for judicial officials, set up within the Judicial Academy, will ensure the selection of new judges and prosecutors according to the criteria of competence, professionalism, independence and moral integrity.
All of this will contribute to the strengthening of the rule of law and to the efficient struggle against crime and corruption, according to Josipovic.
He called on politicians, the media and the entire society to safeguard the independence of the judiciary and not to meddle in proceedings as well as to respect court rulings.
PM Kosor said that "no one has the right to be scared or stumble in the clamp-down on corruption and crime".
She reiterated that there were no untouchables and that all criminal proceedings were equal for everyone. regardless of who was in the dock. Kosor said that her government had launched and was consistently pursuing a zero tolerance policy towards corruption.
She said that her country was encouraged by the support from the EU and reiterated that this week Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk would bring to Zagreb a treaty of accession between Croatia and the EU. She also reiterated that Croatia was about to sign the accession treaty and become the 28th member of the EU on 1 July 2013.
The head of the Delegation of the EU in Croatia, Paul Vandoren, expressed conviction that with the entry of Croatia into the EU on 1 July 2013, the Croatian judicial system would keep providing citizens with increasingly good services.
Croatia's admission to the EU will bring many benefits to Croatians, and one of them is a strongly independent and competent judiciary, Vandoren said.
The Judicial Academy director, Ivana Goranic, said that the basic aim of the academy was to care for the well-being and interests of citizens in Croatia and tomorrow in the EU.