1. Mr. Danielsson, you are in Bosnia and Herzegovina this week where you will meet state and entity officials. What will be your message following the failure of the Sejdic-Finci talks with BiH leaders?

The EU has been engaged with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the framework of the Stabilisation and Association process. As the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton underlined during her recent visit, this country has a clear membership perspective. We are working hard with partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina to implement dozens of projects designed to move the country closer to the EU. I came to Bosnia and Herzegovina this week to launch a joint EU-BiH working group to accelerate the implementation of these EU funded projects.

The EU granted over 600 million EUR to Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Instrument of Pre-Accession (IPA) alone and more than three billion EUR were allocated to your country through various programmes in the past 20 years. What is needed now is strong political leadership as well as more ownership and responsiveness in carrying out the various projects for the benefit of the citizens and the European integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2. European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, announced setting up a joint EU-BiH working group which should speed up implementation of the EU financed projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina. When it will start? Why has the EU decided to make that change?

On Thursday, 13 March, we had the first meeting of the joint EU-BiH working group. BiH Council of Ministers Chair, Vjekoslav Bevanda, FBiH Prime Minister, Nermin Niksic, RS Prime Minister, Zeljka Cvijanovic, and other important stakeholders, including civil society representatives, discussed with the European Commission how to accelerate the implementation of the EU funded projects.

Presently, we have projects worth 210 million EUR being implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina and additional projects worth 150 million EUR still wait for a signature of contracts. We would like to see them implemented as planned and worked together to identify and remove obstacles. We are responsible to EU taxpayers and the authorities here are responsible to BiH citizens who should benefit from the projects. That is why we needed to sit down to discuss the pace of implementation. It was a very useful meeting as we managed to agree today on concrete steps how to move projects worth 45 million Euro forward. We meet again at the beginning of April to take stock of the progress made.

3. Presently, EU projects worth 210 million EUR are being implemented in BiH and according to Commissioner Füle, additional projects worth 150 million EUR wait to be implemented. How can we achieve a goal of directing these funds to increasing of employment in SMEs, faster processing of cases before courts and more efficient use of government budgets’ funds?

For most of these very relevant issues we have projects in the pipeline which BiH authorities now need to implement. On top of this, the Joint Working Group agreed to reallocate more than 14 million Euro precisely to promote local economic development and job creation. We will work out a package of IPA funded actions in the next few weeks.
 
This fits well into the context of the Enlargement Strategy, published in October. Then, the European Commission proposed to put the focus on better economic governance in all countries in the region. Bosnia and Herzegovina should be one of the first countries to benefit from this new approach. The Commission will assist Bosnia and Herzegovina to prepare a National Economic Reform Programme. It will push forward reforms and actions to tackle dysfunctional labour market, get better co-ordination on economic and fiscal policies and create a better environment for business.

We will also propose a Competitiveness and Growth Programme to push forward the sectoral reforms – in, for example transport, telecoms and energy – that will enhance BiH’s competitiveness, unlock investments, growth – and employment, which is very important.

In addition, we are also extending the well established Structured Dialogue on Justice to other issues related to the rule of law. The prevention and fight against corruption is considered a new top priority. We should keep in mind that corruption is destructive to any economy and therefore this priority has many inner links to the economic governance approach.

5. Due to failure to implement its obligations stemming from the European path, Bosnia and Herzegovina lost almost 50 million EUR from IPA funds. Is this money lost for good?
Yes, 45 million EUR from IPA 2013 are lost for Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the same time, it is important to stress that the European Commission did not restrict funding that is designed for the direct benefit of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, e.g. in the area of support for refugees and internally displaced persons, social inclusion in education and the implementation of the Roma Action Plans.

One should also remember that we had to cancel in late 2013 two agriculture projects totalling 5 million Euro, due to the failure of the authorities in BiH to agree on the domestic structures to deliver EU agriculture and rural development assistance funds (IPARD). It needs to be avoided that citizens do not benefit from EU funding because the politicians and institutions do not reach agreement on practical solutions. I trust that with the help of this high level Working Group such blockages can be overcome and a new momentum be created for the implementation of EU funded projects.

6. What is the EU stance on BiH participating in the IPA 2014-2020 and will BiH be able to participate in it?

The total budget planned for IPA II is 11.7 billion EUR. This money will provide financial support to all enlargement countries in their preparations for EU accession. It will also play an important role in the reforms I mentioned earlier. Our partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina are aware that coordination and country wide sector strategies are key for IPA II and need to prepare accordingly to absorb further funding in the future. At the next Working Group meeting we want to speak about IPA II in more details.

Better internal coordination is vital for the dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Several meetings of EU-BiH subcommittees on issues such as trade, customs and taxation or state aid, competition and internal market legislation could not be held due to internal disagreement on the side of Bosnia and Herzegovina This undermines the functioning of the Interim Agreement which is the contractual basis of our relations.

7. Neighbouring countries progressed more than BiH in the European road. Croatia has been a member since last year and Serbia and Montenegro have opened accession talks. What is the EU opinion on BiH stalemate? Is it possible that BiH will remain a black hole of the Balkans?

It is obvious that Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently lagging behind other countries in the region, but with strong political will the country can catch up. In recent weeks it has become visible that the political system in Bosnia and Herzegovina must become more responsive to the citizens’ agenda demanding more job opportunities, more efficient justice and no corruption. Looking at current developments in other parts of Europe it is essential for Bosnia and Herzegovina to progress on the European path with determination in order to become part of a Union which not only stands for more prosperity but is also a space of freedom, justice and security.