Bosnia and Herzegovina is still not prepared to become a European Union member state and there is a number of reforms that need to be implemented in various sectors before the country joins the Union, unnamed representatives of the EU's office in Sarajevo told media.
According to Fena news agency, Bosnia's membership application and the Opinion that the European Commission published a month ago was discussed on Tuesday in a meeting that identified 14 crucial priorities lying ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Reportedly, it was emphasised that the Opinion clearly stated that Bosnia has not reached a satisfactory level in any part of the Acquis Communautaire, which would be considered a good or advanced level of preparation.
“The same problems that were pointed out in past years have been identified again, but the pressure of citizens on political elites is of exceptional importance in terms of implementation of reforms,” it was said in the meeting, Fena news agency reported.
Participants of the meeting, according to the news agency, also stressed that nothing special has been done after the Commission's opinion was published although there are 150 short-term measures that need to be implemented within a one-year period.
Bosnian authorities were urged to adopt an action plan to carry out these measures, said the unnamed sources, who stressed that Bosnia is the only EU aspirant country lacking a national programme of harmonising its legislation with the Acquis.
“Process of European integration is not developing in a systematic way and, besides, every citizen should know which reforms are being implemented, who is in charge and how much a reform costs,” it was emphasised.
Systematic problems in Bosnia produce dysfunctionality which mirrors in two crucial issues. One of them is institutional set-up and another one is a discussion on the distribution of competencies. European Commission suggests that one of the mechanisms to solve that issue is merging the cantonal resources in order to balance the legislative system, it was emphasised in the meeting.
