JOINT STATEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION AND BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Mostar, 20 January 2010

Representatives of the European Commission and Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions met in Mostar to discuss the level of approximation of the country in the fields of transport, energy, environment and regional development. Progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in its European Integration process depends on the country’s fulfilment of the requirements of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, amongst others in those areas. At the end of the very fruitful and constructive meeting, the European Commission made the following recommendations:

The Law on the Transport of Dangerous Goods should be adopted. It has been pending for more than a year in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The EC recommended to speed up the construction of the European Transport Corridor Vc as in line with the agreements reached with all stakeholders.

The Commission stressed the importance of the adoption of a country-wide energy strategy and the need for further efforts to make the Electricity Transmission Company TRANSCO fully functioning again. It also recommended the adoption of the Law on Gas as soon as possible, since this is a BiH obligation arising from the Energy Community Treaty for South-East Europe, to which BiH is a signatory.

In the area of environment, the Commission asked for adoption of the Law on the Environmental Protection without any further delay. This law envisages the establishment of the BiH Environmental Agency.

The two sides welcomed that regional and local development issues were openly discussed. The European Commission pointed out the need for adoption of a country-wide regional development strategy as the precondition for the availability of EU funds for infrastructure, above all in the transport and environmental sectors. Such EU-funds are granted in order to balance out regional disparities and to help less developed parts of the country advance.