Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has achieved some progress in human rights and economy, the European Commission (EC) said in a 2018 Report on BiH handed to BiH Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Vjekoslav Bevanda here on Wednesday.
The Head of the Delegation of the EU to BiH and EU Special Representative in BiH, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, noted at the ceremony of report handling that the report deals with the rule of law, fundamental rights and the functioning of democratic institutions, and economic reform and development.
The report states that BiH has achieved some progress regarding the judiciary and human rights, and that any revisions should be in line with the international standards.
The special emphasis was put on the importance of the appropriate amendments to the BiH Election Law to ensure, without delay, the smooth conduct of elections in October and the election results afterwards, Wigemark highlighted.
“We are constantly appealing to all political leaders in BiH to find a solution and to reach a compromise on solving the Election Law issue in BiH,”Wigemark said.
Assessing the economic progress in BiH, Wigemark said that significant number of macroeconomic indicators show progress in the business environment and the financial sector, but that BiH is still at an early stage of establishing a functioning market economy.
Wigemark adds that there is insufficiently strong rule of law and inefficient public administration that hinders economic progress of BiH.
For his part, Bevanda stressed that the report shows EU institutions’ determination to be with BiH, but that key decisions are still on the country’s authorities. He hailed the positive examples of the Mechanism of Coordination that enabled answering on the EC Questionnaire.
“We have to go on a road leading to Brussels, all have expressed the commitment for that path. The EU has no alternative, our path leads to one direction, to Europe,” Bevanda said.
Some of the key findings of the 2018 Report on BiH say that BiH has made a progress in adoption of the new strategy on fighting organised crime and money laundering which resulted of BiH being no longer a subject to Financial Action task Force Monitoring.
In a video message sent to BiH citizens, Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, noted that since 2016 BiH has making decisive steps to bring the country on the EU path. He sent a message that the EU will provide policy guidelines, extensive financial support and will support every step that BiH makes on its journey to EU membership.
Sarajevo Times, photo Fena
