Bosnia’s House of Peoples failed to adopt changes to the Law on Public procurement on Tuesday and the second round of the vote could not be completed because Deputy Chairman of the institution, Dragan Covic, did not attend the session.

The Law on Public Procurement is among the priorities stated in the European Commission’s Opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application for membership of the European Union.

The Opinion says that Bosnia should “align the legislation and strengthen capacities on public procurement.”

“Corruption is widespread and all levels of government show signs of political capture directly affecting the daily life of citizens, notably in health, education, employment and procurement matters,” it says.