Ministerial Meeting
Brussels, 28 January 2014

Deputy Director General for Energy of the European Commission, Mr Fabrizio Barbaso, on the one hand, and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr Boris Tučić, and the two Prime Ministers, of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr Nermin Niksić, and of Republika Srpska, Ms Željka Cvijanović, on the other, discussed energy related matters of relevance for the EU integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The fruitful discussions took place in an open and frank way taking into account the various interests and both political and technical/legal aspects. They led to the following conclusions:

1. The representatives of the European Commission and Bosnia and Herzegovina underlined the high importance of the integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European energy market. They agreed to further strengthen their efforts to reach this objective, not the least in view of the large potential of Bosnia and Herzegovina in this field, in particular with regard to the generation of electricity.

2.The representatives of the European Commission reminded that Bosnia and Herzegovina, by signing the Energy Community Treaty, committed itself to ensure the security of energy supply, in line with Directive 2005/89. The representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina including the two Entities confirmed that a well functioning countrywide operating electricity transmission company is one of the cornerstones to guarantee the security of supply with electricity of the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
3.The representatives of the European Commission welcomed substantial progress reached in making the company functioning, in particular the ongoing setting up of the management and the finalisation of audited financial plans, and that there is now a comprehensive agreement of the Shareholders to make TRANSCO fully functioning.

4.The Prime Ministers of both Entities and the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations commit themselves – within the framework of their competences – to contribute to the operational safety, functionality and viability of TRANSCO. The long-term ability of the transmission network of TRANSCO to meet reasonable demand shall be ensured. The Prime Ministers of both Entities agreed on the following:
 
4.1 The outstanding tasks of the setup of the (full) new management and the approval of the 2012 financial report will be completed by 28 February 2014.

4.2 No more than BAM 100 million accumulated revenues are distributed to the two shareholders under the current financial exercise. The distribution of any further accumulated revenues will not take place before the 10 year transmission network development plan has been adopted by the Shareholders’ General Assembly and approved by the Regulatory Authority (SERC).

4.3 The Prime Ministers of both Entities agreed that experts of the Energy Community Secretariat technically support TRANSCO in the finalisation of the mid-term investment plan and the 10 year transmission network development plan to ensure Bosnia and Herzegovina’s compliance with the Energy Community Treaty. These investment plans will be submitted to the Secretariat before 10 February 2014. The Secretariat will issue the experts’ assessment by the end of February 2014.
 
5. The representatives of the European Commission informed that the EU funded technical assistance project for the alignment of the legislation on electricity with EU requirements has been completed at the end of December. The EU Delegation will make sure that the final report is sent to the respective stakeholders in Bosnia and Herzegovina. With the adoption of the required legislation before 2015, Bosnia and Herzegovina would meet its current obligations in the field of electricity under the Energy Community Treaty.

6. With regard to gas, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations will call for a meeting with all relevant authorities within the next two weeks with a view to coordinating the next steps in order for Bosnia and Herzegovina to comply with Ministerial Council Decision D/2013/04/MC-EnC.

7. The European Commission took note of the ongoing negotiations on an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Russian Federation on the Southstream pipeline. In line with the letter of the Secretariat of the Energy Community dated 16 January 2014, the Commission highlighted the need for the final IGA to be in compliance with the legal framework of the Energy Community Treaty, in particular with regard to the principle of third party access and unbundling between transmission system operation on the one hand, and gas production and supply, on the other.