When the Commission for Cooperation with the NATO Alliance was formed in March, some politicians characterized it as an important step forward for BiH’s NATO path. At today’s, only the second session, the members of the Commission adopted the draft of the Reform Program for this year.
They say there were disagreements, but they still decided to compromise. And officially, the Commission for Cooperation with NATO has fulfilled its first task. The draft document Reform Program for 2021 was unanimously adopted. It is a political and legal document that defines cooperation between BiH and NATO on an annual basis.
After the technical changes, he will be sent for an opinion to the Ministry of Finance of BiH, the Office for Legislation, and after public consultations in the form of a proposal to the Council of Ministers of BiH.
When it comes to the content of the document, the members of the Commission say that it is identical to last year’s. The Reform Program for 2020 from the Ministry of Defense of BiH says that despite the pandemic, 70 percent of obligations have been realized.
They hope for a higher percentage this year and say the essential difference compared to last year is transparency. It will thus be available to the public, which has not been the case so far.
The adoption of the Reform Program for 2020, which was adopted by the Presidency of BiH at the end of 2019, was a major obstacle to the agreement and the reason for several months of political blockades.
The adoption of the Reform Program was closely linked to the appointment of the BiH Council of Ministers. And while it was being conditioned, a problem called the name of the Commission also emerged.
Thus, we received the Commission for Cooperation with NATO from the Commission for Integration with NATO, mostly at the insistence of the SNSD. Due to this dispute, the state did not adopt the Annual Action Plan or ANP, and a document called the Reform Program was imposed as a compromise.
Whatever the names may be, the fact is that we are far from joining NATO. Although we have been told several times that the door is open to us, the decision is up to our political leaders. It is important to submit annual reports regularly to Brussels and hope for a more favorable political climate, the only consensus of which will be full membership in NATO.
