Transforming Judicial Systems in Europe and Central Asia, paper for ABCDE Conference

2005) by incorporating the findings of a large survey of enterprises throughout the region undertaken in spring 2005, the third EBRD-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey, or BEEPS (EBRD and World Bank 2005). The study emphasizes that judicial reform is a critical challenge for most transition countries. The majority of these countries have made progress in establishing independence in their judiciaries, but accountability, transparency, and efficiency have lagged behind. Many transition countries need to focus now on strengthening the fairness and honesty of their courts—which requires broad actions along many fronts to select the right judges and support staff, train, remunerate, and evaluate them adequately, and provide infrastruc-ture and IT systems to promote efficiency and transparency. More generally, transition countries share many of the same priorities and concerns as other countries, whether developed or developing, notably strengthening judicial accountability. The judicial systems in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are under heightened scrutiny these days, 17 years after tran-sition began. In Central and Eastern Europe, the European Union is exerting stron