New Kosova Report

Kosovo Justice Minister at conference on Balkans in Brussels

Thursday, 19 November 2009

On the first day of inter-ministerial conference of Western Balkan of justice and home affairs issues, organized by the Swedish presidency of the rotating, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Kosovo Mrs. Nekibe Kelmendi, took part in the discussion, in which dealt with themes of independence of the judiciary and prosecution, enhanced co-operation with Eurojust-in and the fight against corruption.

In her speech she said "under the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, the judicial system in Kosovo is unique and indivisible, is an independent and impartial and ensures equal access to the courts for all citizens of Kosovo".

Likewise, The Minister of Justice noted that the independence of the judiciary and prosecutors is guaranteed even under the operation of the Provisional Judicial prosecutorial Council and, a mechanism such that after adopting a package of laws, which will begin in justice reform , will be split between the judiciary and prosecution, with the establishment of the Judicial Council and Prosecutorial Council.

As for expanding cooperation with Eurojust-in, Minister Kelmendi raised the issue of the need for coordinating the work with specialized international organizations to combat transnational crime, such as the Interpol, Europol, the, Eurojust, , Frontex, the and implementation of the European order for arrest.

"Cooperation with these specialized organizations presents in itself a problem, so to avoid this problem I request to enable Kosovo the signing of a memorandum on mutual cooperation with concerned organizations on how to achieve the efficiency of the institutions of Kosovo in combating international crime, "added Minister Kelmendi.

Taking part in the session, which was treated in the fight against corruption, Minister of Justice began her discussion with counting of all laws, which are aimed at preventing and combating corruption, as one of the challenges raised in the Progress report 2009. At once she mentioned that international crimes and the crime of corruption mainly are investigated and judged by, judges and prosecutors of EULEX, set as their competence according to the special law on the jurisdiction and powers for the selection of cases by judges and prosecutors of EULEX in cooperation with local prosecutors and judges.

After the first day of the conference, at the request of its Minister of Justice was accepted by Jacques Barrot, vice president of the European Commission, Commissioner for Justice and Internal Affairs where they discussed the need for reforms in many areas and especially for reforms to the judiciary, Mr. Barrot stressed the need to strengthen the justice system as much, then strengthened immigration agreement with third countries, for which purpose promised sending a mission to Kosovo to support the reintegration of repatriated.

The Minister Kelmendi requested from the Commissioner Baron that Kosovo also to be included in the liberalization of visa regime, justifying in details the need for liberalization of visas for citizens of Kosovo. Regarding visa liberalization Commissioner Barrot promised to Minister Kelmendi that "they will be lobbing the lobby in some states to ease the criteria for issuing visas, especially for certain categories of citizens".