BiH is among the three worst countries in Europe according to the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2021.

Sarajevo, January 25, 2022 – According to this year’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Bosnia and Herzegovina took the third worst place in Europe with a score of 35, on a scale from 0 to 100, which positions it at 110. place of 180 countries, and only Ukraine and Russia have a worse result. The assessment is the same as last year and is the worst in the last decade, because BiH, unlike neighboring countries, has not made any progress in the fight against corruption, primarily due to political obstruction of key reforms.

BiH and Albania are now the worst rated countries in the Western Balkans, as Kosovo and Northern Macedonia have made some progress, primarily in prosecuting major scandals and high-ranking officials, which is almost never the case in BiH due to the trapped justice system.

The best positioned countries globally on the Corruption Perceptions Index are again Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and other western countries with a high degree of democracy. Countries affected by war, lawlessness and dictatorship are holding the ground, and this year it is Somalia, Syria and South Sudan.

In a report published alongside the CPI, Transparency International specifically warns that increasing human rights abuses, weakening democracy and strengthening authoritarian regimes are leading to higher levels of corruption. In the regional report for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, BiH was singled out as one of the countries with poor results, citing increasing attacks on critics of the media control government, suppressing civil liberties and obstructing reforms that would lead to more transparent party funding and fair elections.

“The current political crisis, which deepens ethnic divisions and threatens only the country’s existence, fuels doubts about the interests and motives of key protagonists, as it diverts public attention from human rights violations and blocks important anti-corruption reforms BiH needs to implement.” The crisis is also threatening the holding of the upcoming General Elections in BiH, and much-needed electoral reforms have been blocked to ensure transparent financing and independent conduct of elections without pressure on voters, “the TI regional report said.

Of particular concern are the threatened blockades of the October 2022 elections. while the ruling parties, through initiatives to change the election legislation, are exclusively trying to maintain their own control over the election process.

“The issue of all issues is now the upcoming elections. It is an absolute priority to create basic preconditions for holding elections, without which the country would enter a full legal and institutional vacuum in which the further survival of the state would be called into question, “said Srdjan Blagovcanin, Chairman of the Board of Transparency International. BiH.

The CPI’s results have been particularly affected by the lack of any progress in key reforms, primarily conflict of interest law, public procurement, party financing and the protection of whistleblowers. Also, the reform of the judiciary is completely blocked, and the judicial system is instrumentalized and captured by the ruling cartel, and requires complete reform and implementation of thorough checks of judicial office holders. The legislature in BiH has been clinically dead throughout this term, with the exception of the Republika Srpska parliament, whose focus has been more on actively undermining the legal order than on any reforms. On the other hand, the actions of the executive at all levels were mostly focused on extracting public resources, which were used for personal enrichment and establishing the power of the ruling parties.

“The complete cessation of the functioning of state institutions has removed any dilemma that the country is governed completely non-institutionally. There are no longer any, even formal, obstacles to corruption. The rampant looting of state resources, ie citizens, is intensifying. The country is on the brink of total chaos. “If the parliaments do not function, if the executive power does not function, if the judiciary is captured by ethno-nationalist leaders, this country and its resources practically become the full property of the ethno-nationalist cartel,” Blagovcanin said.

Press rls 25.1.2022. CPI 2021.

Izvještaj CPI 2021.