The opening ceremony of the project “Enhancing the role of Parliaments in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the EU Integration context”, funded by the EU with 3.5 mill Euro through IPA 2012, was held on 11 March 2014 in the premises of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly in Sarajevo.
Representing a twinning partnership between BiH, Hungary and France, the project will work in the next two years on strengthening the institutional capacities of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, the RS National Assembly, the BiH Federation Parliament and the Brčko District BiH, in the context of European integration.
In his opening remarks, Head of the EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative in BiH, Ambassador Peter Sorensen, stated:
“I believe that this project will bring together BiH Parliaments with institutional peers from EU Member States and that this will result in partnerships that can last beyond the lifetime of a project and eventually throughout a country’s accession process. I also believe that this project will underline the importance of institutional co-ordination in light of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU integration aspirations. Parliamentarians must and will play a proactive and very important role in adoption of all EU regulations. I am personally convinced that parliamentarians in Bosnia and Herzegovina will make good use of expertise put at their disposal through this project.“
From the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, Speaker of the House of Peoples, Dragan Čović, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Božo Ljubić, expressed their appreciation to the EU and the consortium of Hungarian and French Parliaments for the assistance provided through this project. They emphasized the consensus and dedication of all political leaders, as well as citizens, to the process of EU integration.
The Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly, László Kövér, expressed his certainty about the eventual successful implementation of the project and the recommendations of European experts will help to establish a unique BiH inter-parliamentary model; one that will help parliaments at all levels to efficiently adopt decisions, control governments and involve civil society in the EU integration process.
Chair of the Friendship Group in the French National Assembly, Marcel Rogemont, spoke about the French experience in these kinds of projects “In more than 80 parliaments in the world France is providing technical assistance. Therefore, we will send the best experts from France to BiH,” he said.
Attendees were also addressed by the Speaker of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, Tomislav Martinović, the Acting Speaker of the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament, Tomo Vidović, the Speaker of the RS National Assembly, Igor Radojičić, and the Speaker of the Brčko District BiH Assembly, Đorđa Kojić, who jointly confirmed that all legislative institutions will actively participate in project implementation, as well as in the process of BiH’s European integration.
The project will be implemented by the National Assemblies of Hungary and France in co-operation with over 100 experts from 12 Member States. In addition to the parliaments of Hungary and France, the project is officially being supported by eight EU Member State parliaments, which will be actively involved in the project’s implementation.
The project is divided into seven components, each with around 150 activities:
- Strengthening capacities for strategic guidance of the EU accession process;
- Enhancing the mechanism and capacity for legislative alignment;
- Enhancing the mechanism for oversight of the government, of supervisory and regulatory bodies and improving co-operation with government on the EU accession process; Increasing the participation of civil society and visibility of the role of Parliaments in the EU accession process;
- Developing regular co-operation and co-ordination among the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, RS National Assembly, FBiH Parliament;
- The BD Assembly EU-related issues;
- Raising capacity of MPs and parliamentary staff;
- Improving internal resources management.
