On 10 December, the Centre for Training in Judiciary and State Prosecution of Montenegro celebrated two significant milestones: its 25th anniversary and 10 years of independence. ERA was honoured to be invited by the President of the Steering Committee, Ms Ljiljana Lakić, to attend the event which brought together some of the most prominent legal and judicial professionals in the country, as well as leaders of judicial training institutes from across the Western Balkans.
Speakers included the Supreme State Prosecutor Mr Milorad Marković, U.S. Ambassador to Montenegro Ms Judy Rising Reinke, Minister of Justice Mr Bojan Božović, and President of the Judicial Council of Montenegro Mr Radoje Korać. ERA’s Director also contributed to the celebrations. In his speech, Jean-Philippe Rageade presented ERA’s regional strategy and emphasised the desire to strengthen the Academy’s presence in Montenegro, with the aim of supporting the country’s EU membership by 2028. In this regard, he expressed the wish to cooperate more closely with the Centre for Training in Judiciary and State Prosecution, as the most important actor and interlocutor for judicial training in the country.
A productive meeting was held the day before the jubilee event, attended by Minister of Justice Bojan Božović, President Ljiljana Lakić and ERA’s Director. During the meeting, the possible accession of Montenegro to both the ERA Foundation and the EU’s Justice Programme 2021-2027 was discussed, with both issues being presented as clear short-term objectives by the Minister. The Ministry of Justice published a summary of the meeting on its website shortly afterwards.
A meeting was also organised with the President of the Bar Association, Mr Danilo Mićović. Concrete cooperation perspectives for the benefit of lawyers – particularly those at the beginning of their career – from Montenegro were addressed.
ERA’s visit to Montenegro must be considered in the context of its work with/for EU accession countries: over the last three years, more than 1,500 of their justice professionals have attended ERA training programmes, most of whom were from the Western Balkans. ERA would like to thank President Ljiljana Lakić and the team at the Centre for Training in Judiciary and State Prosecution of Montenegro for their warm hospitality, support and excellent organisation. We look forward to continuing our cooperation in 2026.
