High Representative and EU Special Representative Valentin Inzko will meet HDZ 1990 President Bozo Ljubic today in Sarajevo. This is the first in a series of meetings the HR/EUSR will be holding with BiH party leaders this week.
The OHR’s inventory identified 979 units of State property in BiH and 21 abroad and was delivered to the BiH Council of Ministers and other levels of government in December.
The High Representative and EU Special Representative will point out that the State, Entity and Brcko District Governments should be completing a self-assessment which will set out their realistic property requirements now and in the future so that BiH leaders can proceed to allocation negotiations. These negotiations should result in an intergovernmental agreement on State property that will ensure that each level of authority owns the property that it needs in order to exercise its constitutional and legal competencies.
The High Representative and EU Special Representative will call for engagement by BiH party leaders to ensure that there is concrete and constructive progress towards a viable allocation of State property.
The next meeting of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) is scheduled for the end of the month, at which point the PIC will make an assessment of progress on the “5+2” work plan, from which State property is clearly outstanding. High Representative will stress during these meetings that it is vital that the BiH authorities show that they have made progress towards identifying a viable settlement for the allocation of State property.
The HR/EUSR will underline that when the State property issue is resolved BiH taxpayer’s money will be saved; the rental costs for BiH institutions for 2010 alone amount to 28 million KM. When allocation has been agreed, BiH will be able to accommodate the institutions that it must develop as part of the EU accession process.
