During the second day of her visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, European Commissioner for Consumer Affairs Ms Meglena Kuneva, met on 31 August 2009 with Mr Nikola Špirić, Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers and Mr Vilim Primorac, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH and Chairman of the BiH Committee for Consumer Protection. After the meeting with the representatives of the state institutions, Ms Kuneva met with the representatives of NGOs dealing with consumer protection and discussed the EU consumer protection policy, consumers’ rights in the EU and the problems that BiH consumers and related associations have in BiH.

At the press conference which followed her meetings  Commissioner Kuneva stated that she learnt from the discussions that BiH society understood the importance of consumer protection. She explained that the foundation of a quality consumer protection was transparent business and properly regulated market.

„I have learned in the course of these discussions that BiH has  majority of the required legislation and institutions in place, which is a very good sign. It will take time to implement the legislation, but implementation would be impossible without the required legislation in the first place.”

“Bosnia and Herzegovina must start preparations for participation in the EU internal market much before it joins the EU”, stated Ms Kuneva at the press conference. “Consumer policy can be a driver in one of the most important areas of accession talks – discussion of the internal market,” Commissioner Kuneva said, adding that “consumer policy is a major part of internal market policy.”

She underlined that the priority for Bosnia and Herzegovina now must be creation of a sustainable market and ensuring a sustainable economic growth that would in return ensure a sustainable growth in jobs. Monopolies and lack of transparency, which undermine economic growth and job creation, are not problems that exist only in countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina but are also present in all EU countries.

Commissioner Kuneva warned that the countries commonly make two mistakes when faced with economic crisis. The first is to reduce the access to their own markets, which encourages domestic monopolies that damage consumer interests. The second big mistake is underestimating the importance of a market transparency and allowing practices that would not be tolerated in a normal economy. She said this was a problem not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also in EU countries with developed economies, and stated that they can be overcome by constant fostering of a healthy competition and open market.

Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas, Head of EC Delegation to BiH, informed the participants that Ms Kuneva was the chief negotiator for Bulgaria’s accession into the EU and its first Minister for European Affairs, whose professional experience and advices could be very useful for BiH. Bulgaria nominated Meglena Kuneva in 2006 as its first member of the European Commission.