The document on the Growth Plan that Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted to Brussels does not meet the criteria to be acceptable, because it is incomplete and does not reflect all the recommendations of the European Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to agree on several of the more than a hundred steps that need to be taken in order to receive the first 70 million euros from the Growth Plan for the region worth around two billion euros, and thus remained the only country in the region that did not submit its plan for reforms.
Yesterday, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, tried again in Brussels to present the already rejected plan, but the European Commission did not understand our attempt.
“The Commission calls on Bosnia and Herzegovina to overcome disagreements for the benefit of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and submit an ambitious reform agenda without further delay. With a reminder that the first payment can only take place after the reform agenda has been submitted and officially agreed upon by the European Commission and Bosnia and Herzegovina Herzegovina,” reads the press release from Brussels.
Political analysts believe that it is good that there is still strong support from Brussels for the expansion of the European Union, but also that it has been clearly stated that no one will be overlooked on that path.
“All those things and demands that have been set will have to be done. We have seen one, I would say, unforced attempt by the BiH leadership, which tried to push through, so to speak, the reform agenda in the part required for the Growth Plan,” the political analyst Tanja Topic said.
The attempt to get the European Commission to accept an incomplete document is the best example of the fact that citizens are second nature to domestic politicians.
“In the foreground are the attempts to achieve some of these goals. In such a way that through this Growth Plan some jurisdictions are broken. In what way a certain level of government wins or does not win. And that is the struggle we are witnessing. Today it is the Growth Plan , yesterday was something else, tomorrow will be something else again,” explains journalist Dejan Šajinović.
The Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Belgium and Luxembourg, Erol Avdović, believes that not everything is as black as it seems.
“We must not politicize or exploit things in the pre-election arena in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to fight. It is known exactly who and where he braked, they have been identified, so to speak, a roadblock and this must be overcome immediately after the elections,” says Avdović.
Local politicians will have to roll up their sleeves immediately after the local elections, which are obviously a priority for them, if they want to receive the first 70 million euros that the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans provides for BiH. It is the most ambitious financial package of the European Union, worth six billion euros, which aims to double the economic growth of the countries of this region in the next ten years, BHRT writes.
