Today, Minister of Justice Maja Popović had separate meetings with Viktor Gostiljac and Jugoslav Tintor, Presidents of the Bar Associations of Serbia and Belgrade respectively. Minister Popović assessed that the cooperation between the Ministry and the two Bar Associations was fruitful, albeit with some room for improvement.
The central topic of discussion at the meetings was the enforcement of the Free Legal Aid Act. As an example of good cooperation under this Act, the Justice Minister singled out launching of the Bar Association of Serbia’s Free Legal Aid Call Centre.
The setting-up of the Call Centre, through which units of local self-government refer all approved requests for the appointment of attorneys in the order of providing free legal aid, was stipulated by the Protocol on the information exchange in the attorney referral procedure for the provision of free legal aid signed by the Ministry of Justice and the Bar Association of Serbia in February 2020.
Minister Popović and Presidents Gostiljac and Tintor also touched upon improving the status of attorneys in Serbia.