Monitoring the EU Accession Process: Judicial Capacity

These Open Society Institute reports are intended to bring to the attention of EU candidate state governments and judiciaries, civil society, and the European Union issues that still needed to be addressed if candidate state judiciaries were to achieve the capacity essential to fulfill the obligations of EU membership.

They also discuss major changes in each state's constitutional and regulatory framework or practices affecting the judiciary that occurred between August 2001 and July 2002, including changes that affect judicial independence. The central objective, however, is to ascertain the effectiveness of existing mechanisms and standards in ensuring that the quality of judges and supporting institutional infrastructure guarantees the capacity for an independent, competent, accountable, and efficient judicial process.