Brussels, 10/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Following the second part of the high level dialogue, the European Commission decided on Thursday 10 October to open a procedure to reduce the funding from the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA) for Bosnia and Herzegovina, that country having failed to bring its constitution into line with the European Convention on Human Rights. “Procedures for reducing the originally planned IPA programme for 2014 by 54%, or €47 million, will be launched” on 11 October, announced Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle. “The absence of a solution on Sejdic-Finci blocks the accession path of the country and hence makes it difficult to justify the granting of IPA funds”, he added. The commissioner stated that, “if a solution could be found over the next few days, the procedure could still be stopped”. In the first part of the high level dialogue on 1 October, the representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina signed an agreement in principle in pursuit of solutions on the above-mentioned Sejdic-Finci ruling and the coordination mechanism but “none of the commitments undertaken by political leaders and institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the declaration signed on 1 October have been honoured”, regretted a European source (see EUROPE 10934). Intensive consultations between stakeholders and with the EU will continue over the coming days, Füle revealed.
Similarly, he announced that continued IPA funding will be conditional upon the establishment of a coordination mechanism on European issues and that, until the mechanism is operating, “no programming for the new Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA II) can be considered”. “Each year of delay in programming results in substantial losses of grant money otherwise available to the country”, Füle warned.
The Commission regretted that Bosnia and Herzegovina is rejecting the well-established methodology of adapting the SAA/IA protocol. The Commission will open an official consultation process with Bosnia and Herzegovina to try to find a way out of the impasse and with member states on how to respond. The Commission stated that the high level dialogue is a useful forum and will continue its work. (CG/transl.fl)