The opening ceremony of the Twinning project “Support to further development and strengthening of the Probation Service in Croatia”

The opening ceremony of the Twinning project “Support to further development and strengthening of the Probation Service in Croatia”

The opening ceremony of the Twinning project “Support to further development and strengthening of the Probation Service in Croatia” financed by the European Union and jointly implemented by the Croatian Ministry of Justice, the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions of Spain, the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) and the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) was held on Monday, 6 June 2016 at 11:00 a.m. at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia, Ulica grada Vukovara 49, Zagreb.

The overall objective of this project, with the total budget of 700.000 EUR, is to strengthen the efficiency of the Judiciary in the Republic of Croatia in the area of criminal justice system. The project started on 15 April 2016 and will end on 15 July 2017.

This project aims at contributing the Probation Service's trajectory through improving the institutional capacity of the Probation Service, the training of probation officers for the work with criminal offenders of specific categories, the implementation of an electronic surveillance pilot project and the increase of public awareness about the benefits of alternatives to imprisonment, both from the financial and social perspective.

During the ceremony Mr Ante Šprlje, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Croatia, H. E. Mr Eduardo Aznar Campos, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain to the Republic of Croatia, Assistant Minister Ms Vedrana Šimundža-Nikolić, Team Leader for Political Reporting and Analysis of the European Commission Representation in the republic of Croatia Ms Mirella Rašić, Deputy Leader of the Law and Consular Section of the Embassy of the federal Republic of Germany to the Republic of Croatia Ms Andrea Bettina Schwalm and Deputy Director General of Alternative Sentences and Measures, Secretariat General of Penitentiary Institutions of Spain Ms Myriam Tapia Ortiz addressed the audience. General overview of the twinning project was presented by Project Leader of the Secretariat General of Penitentiary Institutions of Spain Ms Esther Montero Pérez de Tudela, and Junior Project Leader of German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ) Mr Ioan Durnescu presented the first impressions of the Twinning project. The opening ceremony of the project “Support to further development and strengthening of the Probation Service in Croatia” was concluded by closing remarks of Resident Twinning Adviser Ms Laura Negredo López.