Ambassador Peter Sørensen, Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and EU Special representative in BiH met today with Ms Anne Koch, Director for Europe and Central Asia at Transparency International (TI). They discussed current conditions in BiH and the EU’s cooperation with Transparency International.
BiH has made progress in the past five years to set up an anti-corruption framework. Concretely, a BiH Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan was adopted in 2009, a law setting up an anti-corruption Agency was adopted in 2009 and the agency is operational. At entity level, special bodies are being designated to coordinate the anti-corruption activities and anti-corruption policies have been developed.
However, the strengthening of the institutional and policy framework must translate into concrete results, such as transparent recruitments in the public sector and effective delivery of health services.
More needs to be done to step up both the anti-corruption framework and most importantly the actual implementation of anti-corruption measures. Key pieces of legislation are still in the making: a new law on public procurement, and laws providing adequate protection for whistle-blowers.
The EU Delegation to BiH and TI have had a very constructive cooperation. The EU Delegation to BiH recently funded a grant project implemented by TI BiH, which resulted in the development of the National Integrity Assessment, a standard TI approach to evaluate the legal basis and the actual performance of institutions relevant to the overall anticorruption system.
