Conference marking two years since entry into force of the Stabilization and Association Agreement between BiH and the EU was held in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH

All institutions and all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina support the continuation of the process of European integration of our country, that was emphasized at today's conference in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PABiH), this conference marked two years of the entry into force of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between BiH and the European Union (EU).

The objective of the conference, organized by the PABiH Joint Committee on European Integration   with the support of the OSCE Mission and the EU Delegation to BiH, was to analyse the progress of BiH on European path in past two years as well as to exchange information on the activities of institutions at all levels of government in the further process of European integration of BiH.

The Speakers of both houses of the PABiH, Šefik Džaferović and Bariša Čolak, the Chairman of the PABiH Joint Committee on European Integration, Nikola Lovrinović, the member of BiH Presidency,  Dragan Čović, the Chairman of BiH Council of Ministers, Denis Zvizdić, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Igor Crnadak, have addressed to the attendees of the Conference. It was concluded that BiH has made significant progress on the European path in the past two years in terms of fulfilling the Reform Agenda as well as the SAA provisions and also in terms of the economic recovery of the country. In this regard, all institutions in our country have been invited to continue the implementation of reform activities in order to overcome any deadlock and to continue the trend of good results that our country has made in the process of joining the EU.

The Rapporteur of the European Parliament for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cristian Dan Preda, the President of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with BiH and Kosovo, Tonino Picula, the Special Adviser of the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Franz Schausberger, the Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH, Lars Gunnar Wigemark, and the Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Jonathan Moore, have also addressed during the Conference stressing that the European future of our country was not in question but they have warned that the speed of BiH's movement to the EU depends on the pace of the implementation of reforms and the fulfilment of conditions set in the European integration process.

The High international officials have appealed to BiH authorities to make fully operational the adopted co-ordination mechanism and to fill, as soon as possible, the European Commission's questionnaire and thus to enable our country to get the candidate status and to open accession negotiations with the EU.

During the conference, where their addresses had also the presidents of both entity parliaments and  governments, as well as the president of Brčko District Assembly, it was highlighted the important role of parliaments in the process of European integration, and was urged to speed up the process of adopting laws harmonized with the acquis communautaire. The adoption of the Rules of Procedures of the Parliamentary Committee on Stabilization and Association (POSP) was required to be made as soon as possible, thus will start the activities of this joint body of the PABiH and the European Parliament.

It is expected that executive authorities in BiH make, as soon as possible, the Program of Integration of BiH in the EU as well as to adopt state strategies which would enable BiH the access to the EU pre-accession funds (IPA).

All the addresses of local and European officials at this conference will be printed in separate Conference proceedings, which the PABiH Joint Committee on European Integration will submit to all institutions in BiH involved in the European integration process. (end)