Bosnia and Herzegovina will take over from the Belgium the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 19 May, and the country’s preparations are going as planned.
On that occasion, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland said in an interview with FENA that the membership in the Council of Europe important thing, and stressed that they await the day when BiH will become the chair of the Committee of Ministers.
“BiH is seriously conducting preparative work to fix the priorities it will promote, together with the joint priorities which it has defined with the two previous Chairmanships,”said Jagland.
He recalled that in the 13 years since BiH joined the CoE, many positive developments have taken place, particularly concerning post-war reconciliation, state-building, regional cooperation and EU integration.
“We are also very conscious of the colossal challenges that the newly elected authorities will have to face to reverse the current economic situation and improve social conditions for their citizens,” added Jagland.
“A successful BiH Chairmanship will certainly contribute to sending a positive signal to the EU, and to confirming the country’s willingness to advance on its reform track,” underlined Jagland.
Jagland also added that successful CM Chairmanship will also be an important indicator of BiH’s ability to conduct all the reforms necessary to increasing its institutional functionality and efficiency at all levels of government; the respect of the fundamental rights of its citizens would clearly benefit from such reforms.
“A prosperous and stable BiH will require a constitutional and legal set-up that allows all citizens the right to compete in elections for the highest office in the country, and allows its citizens to live in real equality with each other,” said Jagland.
(Source: fena)
