The Interparliamentary Conference gathered the delegations of the relevant parliamentary committees of the Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as representatives of UNMIK/Kosovo and MEPs: Vice-Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs Mady Delvaux, member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Alojz Peterle, member of the Committee on Legal Affairs Emil Radev, member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs Amjad Bashir and the member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar.

The National Assembly delegation comprised the European Integration Committee members Vesna Markovic and Gordana Comic, and the Deputy Chairperson and member of the Committee on the Judiciary, Public Administration and Local Self-Government Tanja Tomasevic Damnjanovic and Nedjo Jovanovic respectively.

The conference was opened by Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro Suljo Mustafic who said that the affirmation of the principle of equality before the law is an essential postulate fort the existence of a legal state and the rule of law, so judiciary reform is often a more difficult task for countries in the EU accession process, than the harmonisation of their national legislation with the EU acquis.

The MEPs stressed that a just judicial system, with truly independent courts is a postulate on which the economic and overall progress of the Economic Union is built on. That is why the accession countries need to conduct the necessary reforms and strengthen the independence, impartiality, accountability and transparency of their respective judicial systems.

The Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on the Judiciary, Public Administration and Local Self-Government Tanja Tomasevic Damnjanovic said that in July 2013 the National Assembly passed the 2013-2018 National Judicial Reform Strategy and 2013-2018 National Anti-Corruption Strategy, while the Government passed the accompanying action plans. Some of the tenets of the National Judicial Reform Strategy require amendments to the Constitution which is a very serious task. Working groups have been set up to tackle the realisation of the Strategy, since judicial reform is a long and complex process aimed at ensuring the efficiency and quality of justice for all citizens, legal security and equality, and making justice accessible to every citizen of the Republic of Serbia.

Within the debate on the rule of law and autonomy of the judiciary as fundamental criteria of EU accession, the participants stressed the need to continue the judiciary reform process as the cornerstone of trust in the court system. They also stressed the need to modernise the judicial system, including e-justice and the need to secure the independence, quality and efficiency of the judicial system in the accession countries.

The Interparliamentary Conference was co-chaired by MEP and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs Mady Delvaux and Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration of the Parliament of Montenegro Snezana Jonica.