Bosnia and Herzegovina has made little progress over the reporting period. The domestic political climate has deteriorated and challenges to the functioning of the institutions and inflammatory rhetoric have continued. Reform implementation has been slow, mainly due to a lack of consensus and political will, but also to the complex institutional organisation of the country. A very limited number of European integration-related laws have been adopted.
These are the key findings of the EU Progress Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina covering the period October 2008 to September 2009, which consists of political, economic and social segment, presented at a press conference on 14 October 2009, at the premises of the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, by Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas, Head of EC Delegation to BiH.
“BiH hás made limited progress during the reporting period. As for the political criteria, there are several positive things: progress made in relation to the transition of the Office of the High Representative, changes related to the amendments to the Constitution regarding the status of Brčko District, cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), processing of war crimes at state level is satisfactory, the Anticorruption Strategy was adopted, several positive laws were adopted, such as the Law on Fight against Discrimination”, stated Ambassador Kourkoulas.
On the other hand, the Report encourages Bosnia and Herzegovina to continue the reforms necessary to fulfill all visa liberalisation requirements but it also draws attention that more action is required in establishing compatibility between BiH’s and the legislation of the EU, especially in the area of respect for fundamental human rights. In order to illustrate it, Mr Kourkoulas gave the example of the elimination of ethnic separation of children in schools and return process strategy, which are part of the political criteria. As for the economic criteria, Ambassador Kourkoulas informed that positive examples were “monetary and financial stability of BiH was maintained despite the economic crisis, but thanks to adequate reaction from the Central bank as a response to international economic crisis consequences. The currency board arrangement continued to enjoy a very high degree of credibility and the banking sector has so far weathered well the impact of the crisis.
However, the quality and sustainability of the public finances are not at a required level, which is very important for the fullfilment of the economic criteria but also for the agreement with the IMF. „It is necessary to limit the public expenditure and to improve business environment“ stated Ambassador Kourkoulas, saying that the Report shows that the business environment is still affected by administrative inefficiencies and that limited progress was made in creation of the actual single economic space.
“It is time for BiH to move from Dayton era to Brussels era “, stated Ambassador Kourkoulas, implying to the great media attention caused by the so-called Butmir meeting: “Such conditions need to be created where OHR will no longer be needed. The institutions must be more efficient in adoption and implementation of the European legislation in the country. Butmir agreement shows that the European Union and the United States of America joined efforts in promoting European integration process in BiH. To obtain a candidate status is not only important for the visa liberalization; it is also required in order to attract foreign direct investments, to speed up the reform process but also to receive more financial assistance from the EU. That is why the EC Progress Report is a useful instrument which could be used by the authorities to intensify the activities on the European integration path. However, the final progress depends on the political leaders and their will to reach consensus on the most important issues in order to fulfill the Road Map criteria”– concluded Ambassador Kourkoulas.
Ambassador Kourkoulas informed the journalists that the Report covers also other countries of the region and expressed his hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina will not lag behind its neighbours.
Prior to the Press conference, Ambassador Kourkoulas handed over the Progress Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009 to Mr Nikola Špirić, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
