The World Bank has approved a 26-million Euro loan for improving the efficiency of the Croatian judiciary as the country moves towards Croatian EU Accession.

The World Bank project should help speed up key legislative reforms aimed at modernising and improving the courts, State Attorney's Office and the Ministry of Justice.

Amit Mukharjee, one of the project leaders, said: "A well-functioning judiciary is a precondition for a modern and advanced society in which citizens can rely on efficiency, transparency, independence and professionalism of the courts and the State Attorney's office."

The project should help consolidate court networks in Split, Karlovac and Pula, modernize court information systems and shorten the case processing time in certain key phases, amongst others.

This is the fourth such project aimed at the improvement of Croatia’s judiciary system financed by the World Bank, the Croatian daily Vecernji List reports.