EURALIUS is the European Assistance Mission to the Albanian Justice System. The initial stated objective of EURALIUS[1] is "To facilitate, through the building of the required capacities within the Ministry of Justice and the Judiciary, the development of a more independent, impartial, efficient, professional, transparent and modern justice system in Albania, therefore contributing to the restoring of people’s confidence in their institutions and to the consolidation of democracy and rule of law in the country, as required by the Stabilisation and Association process with the EU."[2] The project, with the name “Euralius II” was prorogued for the period 2007-2010. On September 2010 a new project for the Consolidation of the Albanian Justice System took the place of Euralius and is commonly known as Euralius III.
EURALIUS (European Assistance Mission to the Albanian Justice System) was initially a project funded by the European Union under the Albania CARDS 2002 programme. The Contractor of the Grant Agreement No. 2005/103284, which was the basis of this EURALIUS Mission, was the Austrian Ministry of Justice[3] which was implementing the project in a consortium together with the Ministries of Justice of Germany and Italy (for details see consortium partners). In the most recent version, EURALIUS III was based on the Grant contract number 2020/248-025, funded by Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance(IPA) funds 2009 and implemented by the Spanish Ministry of Justice[4] in consortium with the Italian High Council of Magistrates[5]
The implementation of the project started on 13 June 2005 and was designed for an initial period of two years. The first Head of Mission was Gerald Colledani, Vice-President of the Court of Appeal of Innsbruck, Austria. In total the EURALIUS staff consisted of 25 persons, of which 9 of them were of international origin from various EU Member States and 16 of Albanian. In the present, the Mission EURALIUS III include five international long term experts. The Team Leader is Joaquin Urias, Counselor at the Spanish Constitutional Court[6]
| Roles: |
|---|
| Justice Organisation |
| Judicial Budgetary Planning and Management |
| Law Drafting and Legal Approximation |
| Penitentiary Issues |
| Enforcement of Rulings |
| Case Management and Court Administration |
The team of long-term international experts is assisted by Albanian legal experts and administrative staff such as personal assistants/secretaries, one accountant and drivers.
The Mission’s Headquarters was initially located in Torre Drin, a well-known business and apartment building in the very heart of Tirana in close range to many important Albanian public institutions. Besides the Headquarters the Mission operated 3 more side offices in the Albanian Ministry of Justice and the Tirana Court of Appeal situated next to the Judicial Budget office. For the Mission Consolidation of the Albanian Justice System it was decided to be located in the premises of the Albanian Ministry of Justice[7] in order to enhance coordination and exchange of information.
Albanian project partners are the Ministry of Justice, the judiciary (courts), the High Council of Justice, the Prosecution, the Judicial Budget Office, the Bailiff’s Office, the School of Magistrates, the Ministry of European Integration, the Judicial Conference, the Ministry of Interior, the People’s Advocate, the Legal Reform Commission, the Albanian Bar Association and the National Chamber of Notaries.
The overall project coordination on Albanian side is performed by the Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Ms Brikena Kasmi.