Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to BiH, delivered opening remarks at the Association of Employers Conference “How to Move Faster to Europe?” on 22nd October 2009 in the Radon Plaza Hotel, Sarajevo.
The Conference gathered representatives of business communities from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Western Balkans and the European Union, as well as BiH political representatives and diplomatic core. High Representative and the EU Special Representative, Valentin Inzko also spoke at the Opening of the Conference who stressed that in BiH, economic development has been in the second plan, as the politics occupies the primary one.
Emphasising the fact that party leaders in BiH speak very little about economy and that the media rarely ask detailed questions on economic topics, Inzko stated:
“I invited the ruling parties to fulfil the commitments they took over within the process of European integration and radically improve their business environment, by adopting a state law on obligations and a modernised banking supervision system. I also asked that the services which can be offered by BiH embassies to potential investors are improved. But I am not the person who should speak about this, because I am a foreigner. If anyone should call for the authorities to undertake direct measures in order to improve the economic situation, it is the citizens of BiH”. At the end of the speech he said: “What you do in the field of economy is equally important to what others do in the field of politics. Therefore I hope that you will demand from leaders of the political parties to focus on economy.”
„The EU and the USA showed in the past days that they want BiH to join the EU and the Euro-Atlantic integration. But the question is whether the politics is ready to work for the economic progress of this country“– said in his address Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas. He also stressed that membership in the EU implies fulfilment of certain economic criteria. By focusing on the economic part of the EC Progress Report for BiH within the past 12 months, Ambassador Kourkoulas stated that BiH has earned a positive opinion in relation to functioning of the Currency Board and that the financial system has managed to remain stabile despite the economic crisis. However, he added that the quality and sustainability of the public finance are not on the expected level, and that it is necessary to limit the public expenditures and improve business environment, which is still under influence of administrative inefficiency.
„The EU economic criteria, that every state wishing to be a member must fulfil, are related to, among other, improvement of business environment, reduction of size of the grey economy, but they are also related to the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the EU. In this part, the BiH attitude is rather critical” – said Ambassador Kourkoulas and added that the degree of the state intervention in BiH is still very high and that there is a lack of transparency as well.
Reverting to the topic of the Conference “How to Move Faster to Europe”, the Head of Delegation of the European Commission to BiH stated:
„Moving faster towards Europe also has something positive. That is the process in which everyone gains, as the regional cooperation and regional integration increase. The experience of all the countries that became member states indicates that benefits of the membership are felt much before the actual accession in the EU. The more BiH adopts and starts to implement reforms needed for fulfilment of the requirements, the more it will benefit from the accession.“
In his comment on the Butmir meeting, Ambassador Kourkoulas said:
“The meeting was the start of a process for which we hope will continue in the coming weeks. If successful, it can facilitate the process of BiH accession to the Euro-Atlantic integration as well as transition of the OHR into a stronger Office of the EU Special Representative. Constitutional changes are also necessary. IfBiH fails to take the necessary steps in the near future, the risk of the country lagging behind its neighbours could become reality. As business people you know very well that such scenario will have a negative impact on the economic and social development of BiH.”
“This is a very important message that you, as protagonists of the economic process of BiH have to send to all political actors. BiH still has the possibility to make progress in a number of key areas, but tangible results have to be achieved quickly” – Ambassador Kourkoulas concluded at end of his address.
