European Commissioner for Enlargement, Stefan File, after an
unsuccessful meeting in Sarajevo on the issue of implementation of the
Sejdic Finci ruling, said that “BiH is currently in breach of its
international obligations, and responsibilities for that are with the
political leaders.” It is particularly emphasized that the specific
consequences of the failure of the negotiations are lack of
implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between
the EU and BiH and the impossibility of filing credible applications for
BiH’s EU membership. Will the EU Delegation to BiH change its approach
in dealing with the authorities at all levels in BiH, or will it wait
for the elections?

Elections are not a major factor for us
because EU integration is a continuous job for the institutions, for the
government of the day and for all those with a role to play. We expect
work on the EU agenda to continue throughout this election year and
those in the future.
 
The process that leads to accession to the
EU is a tried and tested method that has already brought a number of
countries into the EU, and it has developed over the years. So the
conditions will not change.
 
However, Commissioner Füle and High
Representative/Vice President Ashton have spoken of their readiness and
that of the Member States to do more for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
Commissioner has already announced a number of initiatives in the
economic sphere such as drawing up a national economic reform programme
and forming a competitiveness and growth programme.
 
Events in
Ukraine have disrupted planned arrival of the High Representative for
Foreign Policy and Security, Catherine Ashton to BiH? What can
politicians expect and what can the citizens of BiH expect from her
visit and when will that be?

During her visit on Wednesday 12
March, the HR/VP will discuss with BiH institutions and members of
civil society how the EU can further support the EU integration process
of this country. She will also underline the EU’s continuing commitment
to BiH’s EU perspective, whatever the current difficulties.
 
The HR/VP will underline the crucial role and responsibility of the institutional and political leaders of the country.
 
Her
visit comes before BiH is discussed in-depth between the foreign
ministers of the EU Member States. Therefore she will be getting first
hand impressions of the situation in the country that will then feed
into her eventual discussions in Brussels.
 
Recently RS media
published a study of public opinion conducted by the Research Institute
of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Banja Luka, according
to which joining the EU chose only 30.83 % of respondents. How would
you comment this research, and the result?

I haven’t seen the
methodology of this poll so I can’t comment in detail – I am not sure
how large a sample was used. Against other surveys I have seen in BiH I
find this figure rather low. Country-wide you generally tend to see that
overall around 70% of people or above want BiH to join the EU either
soon or in the long term.
 
However this study does underline that
there is a need for a wider, better informed debate on EU integration
in society here, with the different aspects of the issue thoroughly
discussed and explained. That means the advantages and the
disadvantages, the positives and the negatives. But that is not just a
job for the EU Delegation/EUSR office! Given that there appears to
consensus between the political parties that BiH should join the EU, we
need to see the politicians actively help the public to understand the
country’s EU perspective. Overall, the talk in BiH about the EU needs to
be far more concrete.
 
Also, on several occasions, the media
in the RS informed the public that this Entity has not benefited greatly
from the IPA funds, but that this is about investing in the
establishment of the agencies, and even the new institutions that are
supposed to be established on the level of BiH. This can often be heard
from the political representatives of the RS authorities. Do you have
information on the amount of funds that has been invested in the RS and
how much can citizens for the RS benefit from IPA?
 
The RS
has benefited directly and indirectly from IPA funds. Such accusations
do not stand up to serious scrutiny. Speaking of direct benefits, and
just to name a few examples, these range from the reconstruction at
Banja Luka Kastel and Novi Grad Town Hall to improving the road at
Mahovljani. In Bijeljina we’ve been supporting work on dealing with
waste water and providing better quality drinking water. In Visegrad
we’ve been providing funds to local NGOs to help them become active in
protecting the Drina river. In Trebinje and Ljubinje we’ve been
supporting small businesses producing medical and aromatic plants. The
EU provided financial support to the Statistical Institute of the RS to
carry out last year’s census. The parliamentary twinning project just
launched on Tuesday this week will provide support to the development of
the RSNA. There are many more such examples. In addition, all citizens
including those living in the RS, benefit from the work of state bodies,
especially if IPA projects bring about improvements. Take the border
police for example.
 
As many projects are implemented BiH-wide it
is not possible to separate out what amount has been invested in the RS
as a distinct category. What is clear is that since 2007, over 600
million euro is being invested in this country as a whole and the RS
draws multiple benefits from that, just as the state level, the FBiH and
the Brcko District do. I also would like to mention that the RS
authorities are appropriately involved in the planning and
implementation of EU funds.
 
Every day you witness the
protests on the streets of Sarajevo. Protests are happening in other
cities of the Federation as well, and recently there was one held in
Banja Luka. So far, there are numerous opinions that protests are
“staged by the foreign centers of power”, with variations – to abolish
the RS, to the statement given by Zlatko Lagumdzija to “weaken the
Bosniak-majority cantons”. In this context, United States are very often
referred as the commissioners of these events, but the EU as well. Did
the EU Delegation in BiH talked to the local leaders on this topic and
were you given the identical positions that they have when they address
the citizens/nation?

The protests have given rise to many
sensible statements about the situation in the country and to a lot of
nonsense too. The statements we have heard about conspiracies and
“foreign centres of power” seem to me as attempts to avoid dealing with
the real issues. People in BiH want better living conditions, they want
employment opportunities, they want efficient justice and they want to
be able to make their way through ability and not connections. All of
these demands are completely reasonable and politicians and institutions
should address them first and not waste time.

Obviously our
interlocutors have a range of views and we have heard different opinions
from them. Many have recognised the seriousness of the protestors’
demands. Our message to all our interlocutors was and is simple: listen
to the citizens and act on their concerns. We therefore hope that the
upcoming election campaign this year will contain far more talk about
the economy and social reform than tedious rhetoric about ethnicities
and hollow accusations.