Croatia seeks foreign aid to reform its judiciary

ZAGREB, Croatia

Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic asked foreign donors Tuesday (April 28th) to help the country finance projects aimed at reforming the judiciary, a key precondition for eventual EU accession.

Presenting projects worth about 42m euros through 2012, Simonovic asked the donors to help reduce the number of local courts by 40%, cut the number of court cases and improve prison conditions. Separately, Slovenia has recently blocked Croatia’s EU bid over an ongoing border dispute.