The EU will not have its own proposal for the issue surrounding the implementation of Sejdić-Finci, and the procedure for withdrawing 54 percent of IPA funds that B&H could have used began today, announced a European diplomat in Sarajevo at a press briefing, who wished to remain anonymous.
He said that the efforts of the EU to help in finding a resolution for the implementation of this case will continue after yesterday’s meeting in Brussels in which B&H leaders failed to reach an agreement. The perspective for B&H’s membership to the EU remains open, and with the full commitment to this end by all 28 member states of the EU.
However, according to this European official, the statements of individual participants at yesterday’s meeting that the European Commission will now give its proposal to the implementation of the ruling are not correct.
‘’It will continue to assist leaders to find a common ground and consider the implications of various solutions, but there will not be any sort of document or model that the EU will propose’’, said the European diplomat.
‘’In doing so, we remain of the opinion that we will not assume the position of local politicians and their accountability to citizens’’, he said.
The procedure of withdrawing EU funds began today, but the EU does not agree that these are sanctions, but rather that they are a form of bilateral relations between B&H and the EU.
Specifically, the purpose of IPA funds are not donations without any sort of obligations by the country that receives the funds, but rather they are tied to the process of B&H’s EU accession process.
The diplomat reiterated the words of the European Commission for Enlargement Stefan Fule that if there is no progress made towards the EU, it would be more difficult to justify the distribution of funds to B&H.
This is why the diplomat concluded that this is ‘’more of a logical consequence of the situation, rather than sanctions’’.
The funds were suspended in areas such as transport, support to business or the construction of institutions, but funds that go directly to beneficiaries are not taken away, such as to refugees, education and social inclusion.
(Source: radiosarajevo.ba)
