Sarajevo, 20 October 2014

Good day, ladies and gentlemen,

Although not explicitly specified, launching of a functional dialogue with civil society and involvement of citizens in the public policies making process, have de facto become one of the political criteria for a full membership in EU.

Article 10 of the Treaty of Lisbon states that EU shall be based on the representative democracy (role of political parties) and participative democracy (role of civil society), while Article 11 of the Treaty obliges the EU institutions to maintain a dialogue with the citizens and civil society.
 
The communication of the European Commission of 29 June 2005 on the civil society dialogue between EU and candidate countries for full membership notes that: “Any future enlargement of the EU needs to be supported by a strong, deep and sustained dialogue with civil society…“ while the Communication of the European Commission of 5 March 2008 on enhancement of the European perspective of the Western Balkan notes that civil society is the key element of the public life in a democracy and that the engagement of such dialogue in the process of political, social and economic reforms enhances the democracy and reconciliation process in the Western Balkan.

Following this practice the Council of Ministers signed an Agreement on Cooperation with large group of CSOs in early April 2007.

Here in BiH, the institutional collaboration of governments and civil society organizations contributes to transparent decision making and helps BiH move further on its path towards to EU.

Therefore Council of Ministers’ adoption of the Amendments to the Rules of Consultations at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a positive step forward toward greater inclusion of citizens and civil society in decision and policy making processes and all levels of governance in BiH are encouraged to take similar steps in developing institutional mechanisms of collaboration with civil society.

However, we have witnessed more positive steps toward better inclusion of citizens and CSOs and decision and policy making processes. Referral mechanisms (internal mechanisms for cooperation at the level of individual institution) for cooperation are established at the Ministry of Security, and Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Directorate for European Integration of BiH is also close to establishing referral mechanisms for cooperation with civil society. 

However, this is not enough. It is necessary to institutionalise the dialogue between two sectors similar like it has been done in the neighbouring countries.
 
Good governance is an essential element towards meeting the political criteria for any country to be able to join the European Union. This means that civil society has to be included in any decision-making.

Citizens, both individually and via Civil Society Organisations, should be in a position:

•    To participate in policy making and legislative processes, as well as
•    To monitor closely the proper implementation of existing rules and regulations.

They must be able to do that through direct participation, not as a distant voice far from the action. Of course, with participation comes responsibility. For their part, Civil Society Organisations have to show that they are committed and therefore responsible in their intent, for their credibility comes from their ability to reflect the different opinions of different segments of the population.

In a participative democracy, the role of civil society is of vital importance in providing an alternative perspective and on occasion in filling a void left by the elected authorities. The basic values of the European Union member states include a government’s ability to take into consideration and accept critical and informed views from civil society.

European Union has invested so far over 2 million Euros in projects aiming at improving cooperation between governmental and non-governmental sectors in BiH through establishment of institutional mechanisms for cooperation with civil society. So far, we have witnessed limited progress and Amendments to the Rules of Consultations adopted by the CoM last month is a significant step forward and I hope that governments at the levels of entities and cantons will follow this practice.
 
I hope that last month adoption of the Amendments by the CoM will not be the last positive step in better inclusion of citizens and civil society in decision and policy making processes in BiH, but the first one. We all hope that governments at all levels in BiH will establish institutional mechanisms for cooperation with civil society.

The European Union will always be there to support these positive processes.

Thank you for your attention.

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