Progress without any progress?

Banja Luka, 12th November 2015. – Despite the fact that the European Commission in its Progress Report Bosnia and Herzegovina 2015, stated some progress, manifested through the adoption of Reform Agenda for BiH, in most areas there was actually no progress at all. This is particularly evident in the areas related to the rule of law, public administration reform and fight against corruption.

Although this Progress Report has been evaluated as the best so far, it is clear that the adoption of the Reform Agenda for BiH is, for now, merely a fictive progress in the form of specified list of wishes, while in all fields the laws are being undermined, the level of their implementation is minimal, institutions are with no efficiency or coordination, the basic human rights are contested, and the political pressures obvious in all spheres.

The Report, for example, clearly indicates that there was no progress in the field of public administration reform – lack of political support to reforms and systematic approach are the main reasons, along with the growing politicization and inefficiency of civil service. The Report has not included the latest amendments to the Law on Civil Service in the Federation of BiH, which certainly deserves to be called the setback in the given field.

The area of the rule of law was emphasized by the political attacks on the judiciary system, and the lack of liability mechanisms of the judges and prosecutors. The inefficiency of the judiciary is still visible, with the proceedings taking up to approximately 7 years, while at the same time, there is a complete lack of processing procedures and convictions of the major corruption acts at the highest levels.

Fight against corruption is inadequate and with no progress in all segments: law enforcement agencies are not mutually coordinated nor effective; statistical data of processing corruption is devastating; there is no effective monitoring over financing political parties; the issue of property records is defined by different legal solutions and has no proper control; the implementation of the Law on Conflict of Interest completely failed at the level of BiH, FBiH and BD; there was no effective prevention of corruption in public procurement.

The Report also noted that there was a setback in protection of human rights, especially in the part referring to the freedom of expression, gathering and associations, in the light of more frequent attacks on media and civil society, but the legal solutions such as the Law on Public Peace and Order of Republic of Srpska as well.

Such assessment has been present in the Progress Reports for years, but the Report for 2015 introduces for the first time clear guidelines and steps that BiH must take in each field in order to be able to measure the progress, through the implementation of the given recommendations. Besides, a new, scaled system of the progress assessment has been introduced (early stage, the initial preparation stage, some progress, good progress and very good progress). Unsurprisingly, BiH is mainly in the early stage of the reform processes in all fields – and it has been in the same stage for 20 years.

Press rls – 12 11 2015