The functioning of administrative judiciaries in the Western Balkans

A functional administrative judiciary is one of the mandatory elements of the rule of law, which explicitly includes “access to justice before independent and impartial courts, including judicial review of administrative acts”. As such, effective administrative justice as a form of oversight is also a vital element of a good and functional public administration. Efforts to improve the functioning of administrative judiciary form an intersection where public administration reform and rule of law reforms meet. This paper analyses selected elements of Western Balkan and European Union (EU) administrative judiciaries, to understand in which respects Western Balkan judiciaries fall short of the standards achieved by their EU counterparts and what could be done to improve the functioning of the administration. The selection of elements to be covered in this analysis was based on discussions with Western Balkan judges, public authorities and other stakeholders, with the overall aim of focusing on elements that are relevant across the region or in a majority of jurisdictions.