Brussels, 12/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - In its monitoring report, the European Commission stated on Tuesday 10 November that Bosnia-Herzegovina was “back on the reform track” and had “started to address the outstanding priorities on its EU accession path”, as shown by the adoption of the reform agenda in July. The Commission nevertheless states that “meaningful progress on the implementation of the reform agenda is necessary”.
According to the Commission, the political consensus on the country's EU accession objective demonstrated by the February 2015 written commitment “needs to be further translated into the adoption, and harmonised implementation across the country, of the necessary reforms”. Among these are the need to strengthen the public administration, the need to improve cooperation at all levels of government in order to address the socio-economic challenges, and the need to establish an effective coordination mechanism on EU matters in order for the country “to be able to concretely address the next steps on its EU integration path”.
Other issues are that the constitution remains in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Commission states, urging reform of the judicial system. Corruption continues to be generalised and the “political commitment and adopted strategy are yet to materialise into concrete results”, the Commission states, adding that coordination and cooperation between all institutions throughout the country need to be significantly improved. Bosnia-Herzegovina is also faced with numerous challenges as regards human rights and the protection of minorities, and needs to make progress in the fight against discrimination. The conditions for exercising the freedom of expression have worsened, the Commission regrets.
In addition, Bosnia and Herzegovina is at an early stage in achieving a viable market economy, although some progress has been made. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)