BiH should get a questionnaire of the European Commission, which represents an official document of the EU assessing the readiness of the state to begin the accession process, on the 9th of December this year.
The questionnaire of the European Commission is an official document with which the EU assesses the readiness of the state to begin the accession process, and the degree of fulfillment of the Copenhagen and Madrid criteria.
The Directorates General of the European Commission prepare questionnaire in order to get a clear picture of the current situation in the country, but also to see in which way will be addressed certain issues in the future. Questionnaires contain several thousands of very specific and detailed questions, and given the complex structure of government, our country can expect a large number of questions.
“The exact number of questions of the Questionnaire of the European Commission to BiH is not known yet, but based on the most recent analysis of the questionnaire of the European Commission for the countries of the region (Serbia and Montenegro), the Directorate for European Integration has prepared a list of potential questions that BiH can expect. This list contains almost 2,500 questions, distributed to the institutions at all levels of government and placed on the website of the Directorate for European Integration,” as announced from this institution.
Answers to the Questionnaire need to present agreed positions on all the issues, in order for the state to be recognized as a credible interlocutor of the European Union. Along with the answers, a large number of laws, regulations, strategies that requested the European Commission must be submitted and in English language. After analyzing all the answers, the Commission may submit a set of additional questions in case that some answers were unclear or even if their questions were not formulated well.
When it comes to BH administration and its ability to respond to the upcoming tasks, from the Directorate for European Integration emphasize that the answer to the Questionnaire of the European Commission for BiH, as well as it was for the countries of the region that performed the work before us, will be the most complex and most comprehensive task in the process of EU integration.
“Due to this, the Directorate for European Integration performed all methodological preparations, in order for institutions to welcome this challenge as ready as possible. The list of potential questions was distributed to institutions and placed on the website of the Directorate. Guidelines for responding to the questionnaire were prepared, as well as preliminary list of related regulations, which will be submitted to the European Commission together with the answers. Conferences were organized in four cities in BiH, and attended by almost 600 employees from all levels of government who received basic information about the scope of the task, way of work, and the experiences of region,” as stated from the Directorate for European Integration.
According to them, a number of activities related to raising the translation capacity have been taken, and the whole process will be computerized. Moreover, institutions in BiH already have some experience in responding to the various lists of questions from the European Commission before the set deadlines. In 2012, they responded to the so-called test lists of questions related to public procurement and the environment, and they answered the technical issues in the context of a structured dialogue on the judiciary, as well as questions about the health of potatoes.
(Source: Er. M./Klix.ba)
