We have all seen a new positive momentum in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we have seen a more positive atmosphere, and faster government formation across the country, but we have also seen some progress on the EU integration plan, Aurelie Valtat, the Head of European Integration, Political, Press and Information Section at the EU Delegation to BiH, told N1 Wednesday, naming three examples.

“The first one is about the legislation. We have seen a number of pieces of legislation adopted by the new Council of Ministers, such as the Integrity Amendment to the Law on High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), Freedom of Access to Information Law – which still needs to go through Parliament but this is already some progress. There were also amendments to the Law on Ombudsman that were passed which is also positive,” she said.

Valtat noted she heard that the Law on Courts and the Law on Conflict of Interest are ready and could be adopted this summer.

“So this is very positive. On the downside, the Law on Border Control was voted down. That’s a shame but overall we can say there was some progress on the legislative front,” the EU Delegation representative said.

As the second example, she recalled that EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Vrahelyi visited Bosnia in May for the high-level political forum and she pointed out that political leaders are working on the list of actions that was agreed during the forum.

“Thirdly there has been progress on the EU integration process, itself. Unlike in previous years, all the meetings have taken place,” she said, adding that representatives of both the EU and BiH will meet this Friday and that the BiH prime minister Borjana Kristo and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell will meet in July.