While the countries of the region are already using funds from the European Union’s Growth Plan, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the only country that has not implemented any reforms from the Reform Agenda and therefore has not withdrawn a single euro. We have already lost 108 million euros, and by the end of the year we are threatening to lose more than 370 million euros.
Just last year, the representative of our party in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, Predrag Kojović, warned about this kind of development, it was announced from our party.
“A year ago, I warned that Milorad Dodik, through the ministers he completely controls, is depriving the citizens of the Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH of one billion marks of development funds. Today we no longer talk about warnings but about facts. Bosnia and Herzegovina is already paying the price of his blockade policy,” said Kojović.
He reminds that the Reform Agenda was agreed upon after several months of negotiations and that its failure to adopt prevented access to billions of euros intended for the development of the country.
“Those who then claimed that there was no cause for concern or tried to relativize the blockade today owe the citizens an answer. The lost 108 million euros are not figures on paper. These are unbuilt roads, energy projects that will not be realized, less investment in the economy, weaker public services and missed opportunities for new jobs,” he stated.
Kojović warns that this is only the beginning of the financial damage if the blockades continue.
“If we lose more than 370 million euros by the end of the year, the responsibility will not be collective or abstract. She has a first and last name. These funds were not lost because of the European Union, nor because of any administrative procedures. They were lost because Milorad Dodik decided to put his own political interests before the interests of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” points out Kojović.
He points out that the countries of the region are progressing precisely because they are implementing reforms, while Bosnia and Herzegovina is becoming an example of how political blockades directly impoverish their own citizens.
“The European Union has fulfilled its part of obligations. The money was secured, the rules were known, and the reform path was defined. The only thing missing was the political will to allow citizens to develop instead of new blockades. Today, it is completely clear who is responsible for Bosnia and Herzegovina lagging behind its neighbors and why the citizens are left without hundreds of millions of euros that they could feel through better roads, better infrastructure, new jobs and a stronger economy,” concluded Kojović, Fena writes.
