He emphasised the importance of achieving European standards, primarily for the sake of the Serbian citizens’ living standards, as well as for the purpose of achieving EU member state status.

“It is a well-known fact that the legislation of all the EU member states is not uniform and what our country finds very important is the implementation of European conventions, international treaties and equal rights for all citizens”, said Komlenski.

He highlighted the institution of the High Judicial Council and State Prosecutorial Council as an important change and improvement in the judicial system, also stressing the progress made in securing the independence and impartiality of counts.

Donatella Ferranti remarked that Italy and Serbia share many similar experiences since Italy too is in the midst of legislative reform. She said that Italy is currently reforming its civil, criminal and anti-mafia laws i.e. the law against organised crime. The problem facing the Italian judiciary, she said, was the inability to guarantee the tempo of court trials, but she hopes it too will be included in and resolved by the current reforms.