30/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission this week decided to suspend the granting of €50 million in pre-accession aid (PAI) to Bosnia-Herzegovina because the country is not correctly applying tax rules applicable to this aid. The spokesperson for Commissioner Olli Rehn (enlargement) explained to Europe: “We have no choice except to delay implementation, however, because the BiH authorities are not yet applying EU rules on tax exemption for these funds”. The commissioner tackled this question in September with Bosnia's prime minister, Nikola Spiric, who “agreed to find a solution to this issue”. The spokeswoman added that “the EC expects Bosnia-Herzegovina to respect its commitment under the latter framework agreement, so that our funds can be released as soon as possible and project implementation can start in the BiH citizens' interest”.