Agreement builds judiciary: How we have learned to believe in mediation

The average court procedure in Serbia lasts more than 400 days, and mediation is resolved in 53 days. In out-of-court dispute resolution, agreement is reached in more than 70 percent of cases.

With these clear figures, Blažo Nedić, a representative of the project EU for Serbia – Support to the Supreme Court of Cassation, illustrates why mediation is important and how much it can improve the efficiency of the judiciary, especially the speed of resolving disputes. “It is known that Serbia, as well as a good part of the countries in Europe, has a problem with the backlog of court cases. Mediation is one of the solutions,” explains Nedić, the manager of Component 2, whose task is to contribute to the alternative resolution of disputes in Serbian courts. “Citizens, as parties to disputes, should be given the opportunity to resolve problematic situations and conflicts by mutual agreement.” Mediation is a peaceful and out-of-court way of resolving disputes in which the mediator, as a third, neutral and impartial person, helps the parties in the dispute to reach a mutually or mutually acceptable solution. “There are more and more cases that are being referred to mediation from the courts, and a good number of the courts in Serbia have developed info-services that provide citizens and businesses with detailed information on the possibility of mediation and direct them towards finding a suitable mediator. There are also a large number of lawyers who are fully qualified for mediation,” Nedić states the results of the project, which, as he points out, would not be possible without the support of the EU. The highest European and world standards of mediation were applied through the project, which contributed to raising awareness of the importance of such dispute resolution. “Now Serbia is no longer behind most other countries in Europe,” Nedić concluded. EU for Serbia – Support to the Supreme Court of Cassation, for which the European Union has allocated 2.3 million euros, has continued to develop a very successful EU initiative implemented through the project Improving the Efficiency of Justice. The aim of the project is to contribute to the improvement of the judicial system and the rule of law in Serbia in accordance with the requirements for accession to the European Union.