Mr. Mirsad Ćeman, President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ms. Valerija Galić, Vice-President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, participated in the Regional Conference of the Constitutional Courts dedicated to the topic How to Increase Public Trust in Constitutional Courts, held in Ohrid, North Macedonia, on 16 and 17 September 2026. The Conference was organized by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of North Macedonia in cooperation with the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation (IRZ).
In addition to a number of presidents and judges of the Constitutional Courts of the Western Balkans, legal experts of the IRZ Foundation also took part in the work of the Conference.
The Conference was opened by Dr. Darko Kostadinovski, President of the Constitutional Court, and Dr. Stefan Pürner, Head of Project Section for the Western Balkans at IRZ. President Kostadinovski and Dr. Pürner emphasized, among other things, the importance of and the expectations from the Conference and recalled the long-standing cooperation between the IRZ and the Constitutional Courts in the region.
Within the framework of the first panel, Mr. Mirsad Ćeman delivered a presentation entitled Strengthening the Trust in Constitutional Courts – Experiences from the Standpoint of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Speaking of the importance of public trust for the legitimacy and effectiveness of constitutional justice, President Ćeman presented the activities and case-law of the Constitutional Court of BiH aimed at enhancing the transparency of the Court’s operation, availability of its decisions and public outreach, emphasizing the significance of a consistent protection of constitutionality, human rights and rule of law as the foundation of the trust of citizens, and the public in general. President Ćeman stressed that timeliness in the resolving of cases within the jurisdiction of constitutional courts is an important factor contributing to the strengthening of trust in constitutional courts.
Vice-President Valerija Galić chaired the second panel of the Conference, at which the participants examined the experiences of the Constitutional Courts of the countries in the region in the strengthening of public confidence and enhancing of the courts’ institutional visibility and responsibility.
The Conference aimed to explore, through the exchange of regional and European experiences, the ways in which constitutional courts build and maintain public trust while simultaneously preserving their independence and institutional authority.
