H.E. Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas handed over 2008 Progress Report for Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted by the European Commission today, to BH Council of Ministers Chairman, Mr. Nikola Špirić. At the press conference, Ambassador Kourkoulas presented key findings of the Report pointing at both main positive and negative developments. Overall conclusion is that some progress has been made in addressing political criteria during the first half of 2008, but that lack of consensus on the main features of state building, frequent challenges to the Dayton/Paris peace agreement and inflammatory rhetoric have adversely affected the functioning of institutions, and continued to slow down reforms and putting at risk the achievements made so far.   

Ambassador Kourkoulas addressed briefly the conclusions regarding political criteria, economic criteria and European standards. He used the opportunity to underline that although BiH signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) unfortunately the positive momentum was lost being compromised by very negative political environment.

Political criteria

Besides all segments assessed under the political criteria, referring to lack of progress in constitutional reform, Ambassador Kourkoulas clarified that the European Commission would like to see „evolution rather than the revolution.“  He explained that it was necessary that the new Constitution should be compatible with human rights standards, and that BiH would be able to speak with one voice before EU as a future candidate country. Also, the new Constitution should enable effective and functional state structure which will be capable of implementing and enforcing the European Acquis throughout the country. Ambassador Kourkoulas noted that Parliamentary Assembly should have better coordination with the BH Council of Ministers. On behalf of European Commission, he welcomed the adoption of the National Strategy for Development of Justice Sector for 2008-2012, but warned that fragmentation of judicial system and the complexity of the legal framework remain main obstacles in this sector.

Economic criteria

Ambassador reminded that these criteria consider the ability of country to be a functioning market economy and be able to cope with competitive forces within the European Union.  In general, the progress made is positive, mainly because BiH maintained the economic stability in 2008 with positive growth rate. Establishment of National Fiscal Council was welcomed, together with Indirect Tax Allocation Methodology and new Laws on Income Taxes.

„I am pleased to say that State Competition Council works well, however no decision has been taken yet as regards the State Aid Authority. We believe that this is the best solution away from any political debate to have State Aid Authority.“, explained ambassador Kourkoulas referring to two segments important also for the implementation of SAA.

European Standards

Apart from positive developments in this segment, Ambassador Kourkoulas named few obstacles to the European integration process such as lack of strategies in the areas of small and medium enterprises (SME’s), agriculture, industry and weak protection of the intellectual property rights.

In the near future Bosnia and Herzegovina need to address 2 priorities: to ensure proper implementation of the Interim Agreement of SAA, that so far has been implemented smoothly, and to make progress in the area of Justice, Freedom and Security. „Lack of proper statistics including up to date population census is a serious handicap for policy planning in this country. If new census is not undertaken in the coming two years, I am afraid that we would not be able to prepare our opinion once BiH applies for membership. To put it more clearly – no census – no negotiations for accession.“, underlined Ambassador Kourkoulas. He added that lot of rights and obligations of the countries could be derived from these statistics and that the European Union is interested only in the statistics on the state level.

Ambassador Kourkoulas concluded his presentation by saying that corner stone of the European Union was the willingness and capacity to overcome the legacy of the past, conflicts, wars and to look to a future based on human rights and democracy. „Participation in the EU as member state is not compatible with what we have been witnessing in the last few months in BiH: policy statements and actions based on nationalistic lines, the inability of the country to speak with one voice inside and in the international fora, challenges to the structure of the country as defined in Dayton and attempts to roll back in reforms: all these actions risk to delay or even to jeopardise your EU perspective.“, concluded Ambassador Kourkoulas.

Documents available at web page:

http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/press_corner/key-documents/reports_nov_2008_en.htm