Bevanda and European Officials on Current Developments in BIH

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH Vjekoslav Bevanda received in Sarajevo Director General for Enlargement of the European Commission Stefano Sannino and President of the Committee of Regions of the European Union Mercedes Bresso, whom he informed of his view of the problems standing on the way of BIH to making a genuine breakthrough. 

“We all know that a condition for the Stabilisation and Association Agreement to take force is a full implementation of the Sejdić&Finci Award and we all are aware that it falls within the domain of political decision-making”, Chairman Bevanda stated following his meeting with a delegation of the Genral Administration for EU Enlargement. He expressed his hope that the meeting of leaders will define the ways to implement this issue at the Parliamentarian Assembly of BIH.

They touched upon the issue of the Global Fiscal Framework and BIH Institutions Budget for 2012.  Chairman Bevanda also expressed his hope that the parliamentary procedure of the Budget adoption completed by the end of this month. He warned that in case of non-adoption of the Budget, it will not be possible to hold local elections, construct Brussels “border crossings”, or prepare the Census of Population, including many other budgeted tasks.

Chairman Bevanda informed his interlocutors of the coordination mechanisms development process, i.e. about “every requirement needed in order to fully define this mechanism.” “I am convinced that without diligent work, silent diplomacy and arguing, we cannot arrive at a high quality mechanism”, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH underlined.

Chairman Bevanda said that discussion with Ms Bresso unfolded on the setting-up of a committee though which the lower levels of authority would be included into the programming process and participation in the European funds.

The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH expressed his conviction that the petty political dealings would be marginalised. He stressed a necessity of holding of a high-level meeting, scheduled for June 27, 2012, convened by European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle, where participants will have a chance to report on as many as possible solved issues.

Director General for Enlargement Stefan Sannino said that BIH has never been close to the EU accession. “We are aware of many difficulties and problems, but in any case, there is new dynamics of relations between the EU and BIH, the one of issue solving by political leaders”, Sannino assessed.

He expressed his hope in days to come a new good news would be heard on the Sjedić&Finci Award implementation and on Budget. “These are the necessary steps for the implementation of the SAA so that the country would be in a position to submit a credible application for the EU membership”, Sannino said.

President of the EU Committee of Regions Bresso said that they discussed the establishment of relations between local and regional authorities in BIH and the EU Committee of Regions of EU, representing about 270 regions of different sizes in the EU, and including 70,000 representatives of local authorities.

“A joint work group is active currently throughout Western Balkans, and our discussion with Mr. Bevanda concerned possibilities of the establishment of a joint consultative committee to include local and regional authorities in BIH. I think that this relationship model would be very useful for an exchange of experiences and best practices”, Bresso said, assessing that the EU regional policy proved to be among the most successful ones in the sense of reducing inequalities between different part of the EU.

She concluded that it would be very useful for local and regional authorities representatives to learn about different models of structure of the EU countries, out of which some are very decentralised, like Belgium, while others are strictly centralised, like France.

(end)