PRESS RELEASES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Prosecuting of Corruption on the Lowest Level in the Last 5 Years

Press releases ● 07 August 2014

Banja Luka, 6^th August 2014 – Transparency international and the Open Society Fund BIH have published the Report on the monitoring of prosecution of corruption in the courts and prosecutors’ offices in BiH for the period 2012-2013, which presented the data on the efficiency of courts and prosecutors’ offices in detection and prosecution of corruption offences. Unfortunately, the data on Monitoring show a drastic decline in the number of prosecuted cases, as well as cases reported to prosecutors’ office, conducted investigations, indictments and judgments rendered for this kind of criminal offences.

Starting with the number of reports for corruption offences in the work of prosecutors’ offices a significant decrease has been noted in 2013, when prosecutors’ offices at all levels noted 2.363 reports, comparing with 3.174 reports in 2012, which represents the decrease of 25%. It was also noted the dramatic decline in the number of investigations of corruption offences in 2013, when only 747 investigations were conducted, which was almost halved comparing to 2012. The largest decrease was reported in the Republic of Srpska where 60% less investigations were recorded during 2013 in regard to the previous year, whereas the decline of 45% was noted in the Federation of BiH.

When it comes to indictments for criminal cases of corruption, a slight improvement has been noted, and in 2013 prosecutors’ offices rendered 265 indictments for corruption offences, comparing with 2012 when 223 indictments were rendered. This growth is a result of an increased number of conducted investigations in 2012, and it was expected that certain number of these investigations would result in the indictments during the following year.

However, the data relating to court rulings show that the worst results were achieved in sentencing the perpetrators of corruption in the last 5 years, both in the number of judgments and in the very structure of rulings for these criminal offences. For example, in 2013, the Court of BiH rendered only 3 judgments on corruption offences, one of which was an acquittal. Prosecution of corruption in the Court of Federation of BiH also noted a decline comparing to the previous 4 years- in 2013, 78 judgments on corruption offences were rendered, comparing with 124 judgments in 2012, 113 judgments in 2011, and per 91 judgments for 2010 and 2009. The same decrease is reflected in the number of 60 verdicts in the FBiH during 2013, which was less in comparison with the number of verdicts delivered during previous years.

The devastating data are shown in the case of the courts at all levels in the Republic of Srpska, which rendered 60 judgments on corruption offences in 2013, which represents a decline of 50% in comparison with 2012. During the last five years, the number of rendered judgments on corruption offences in the RS has been constantly decreasing, and the worst results were achieved in 2013, when courts at all levels rendered 37 judgments, which represents a decrease of 40%.

In 2013, total number of judgments rendered on crimes of corruption in BiH was 147, out of which 102 were convictions versus 36 acquittals and 9 rejected cases, which has generally been the worst result since the beginning of conduction of these researches by TI BiH. Analysis of available data has shown that out of 147 judgments 103 judgments were rendered for criminal offense of abuse of office and embezzlement in service, while for receiving gifts and other forms of benefits the court ruled in 6 cases and for the crime of unlawful mediation the court rendered only one judgment, and that was acquittal.

All these data indicate the inefficiency of the judiciary in prosecuting corruption, which we have been witnessing for years but during the last one it reached its peak. The results have shown that the judiciary in BiH continues to prosecute cases of corruption at lower levels of the government, given that the majority of cases have been delivered by the primary and municipal courts. In this way, the biggest corruption scandals, to which the media and civil society have warned, are still remaining uninvestigated and unprosecuted, further undermining the public confidence in the judiciary. TI BiH warns that without an active role of judiciary and judicial condemnation of corruption at higher levels of the government, laws and strategies adopted to fight against corruption will have no meaning and no one can expect any progress.

Announced the Information on the Owners of Oil Industry of the Republic of Srpska

Press releases ● 04 July 2014

In 2007, TI BiH requested from the Government of the RS to disclose the names of owners of three companies whose 60% of ownership stake is in possession of a buyer of a Russian company NefteGazInKor- Invest Technology, Nepat and Unique Development, which were registered recently before the privatization process. TI BiH and public have never received this information, which creates space for doubts that the majority owners of the Refinery are not the Russian companies or the Russian Federation, as it was presented in public, but that they are in the highest level of the Government of the RS that conducted the process of criminal privatization or individuals closely associated with the regime.

Six years ago, TI BiH identified 44 disputable clauses of the contract of privatization of the Oil Industry and found that the Government of the RS bought back the Refinery’s previous debts, settled court liabilities of the company, underestimated the real value of the company, and entered in the credit obligations provided by the NefteGazInKor in a non-transparent way. Thereby, the Government of the RS had initially damaged the budget and redirected over a billion KM of taxpayers’ money to the private accounts of unknown people. On the other hand, the former refinery operational profit amounted to less than 500 million KM, bringing the entire property of the Oil Industry of the RS into the hands of the same unknown buyers, who, in this way, managed to get the whole industry in their ownership with all the privileges and preferential treatment that has since been effective.

The claims of TI BiH about continuous money laundering have been confirmed in the report of the audit firm “Deloitte” for 2013, which has shown that the accumulated loss of the Refinery is bigger than 500 million KM, and that the debt is two times bigger than the profit of the company.

Privatization of the Oil Industry through direct negotiations, management of the Refinery, and the privileges that the Government of the RS gave to the buyers and the Refinery itself, as well as the facts that the information on the owners of firms in majority ownership in NefteGazInKor has been kept as secret for years, lead to a conclusion that the main goal of the privatization was enrichment of the individuals from the shadow who robbed one of the largest companies in BiH. From 2007 and on, TI BiH has urged the Government of the RS to disclose the information on the owners of the Oil Industry in the RS without further delays.[:] (more…)

Public Administration Reform without Significant Results

Press releases ● 02 July 2014

Although, the public administration reform has been in focus for over 10 years, on which more than 10 million KM of donor funds have been spent, the Public Administration Strategy that was adopted in 2006 has had very limited impact on citizens and quality of service that citizens receive from the public administration institutions.

While presenting the project, Ms. Lejla Ibranović, program manager of the TI BiH, emphasized that the public administration reform is a priority in the process of joining the EU, but the political elite in BiH has not been committed to the reform processes, and the public administration reform has been seen only as one of the conditions that BiH has to fulfill rather than the key precondition for effective government and economic growth.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Pelle Persson, Director of Swiss International Development Agency in BiH (SIDA), said that aside from the lack of the political will for more efficient reform, the main reason for the lack of the progress is division within the administration that enables political influence on public administration and its clientele, which cannot result in more efficient spending of public finds and work of the public administration.

The politicization of administration and employment that is not based on merits, that lead to the lack of competent staff, inadequate mechanisms for evaluation of employee’s performance, incompetence of the management’s structures and general lack of integrity are recognized as key issues in the field of human resources management.

The complexity of administration structures and inadequate management of human resources lead to inefficiency in the expenditure of public funds, having in mind the percentage of expenditures spent on salaries of public administration employees. However, the research conducted by TI BiH has shown that 45% of budget expenditures have been allocated to salaries, which is far more than 25% that is recommended by the World Bank. Not including the transfers and subventions, this percentage is even higher- 70%, which is additional indication that this proportion cannot enable significant capital investments and development projects which would improve the BiH economy.  When we take into consideration that almost half of the GDP goes to the public administration, the need for the reform that would reduce the administrative apparatus and increase its efficiency is clearer.

Unfortunately, along with the lack of the political support the reform process has encountered other obstacles, such as the lack of coordination between the governments at different levels, poor development and coordination policy, unclear accountability lines, lack of experienced and qualified staff, the administration resistance to change, and so on. For these reasons, it has been emphasized the need for stronger involvement of civil society, which would ensure a link between citizens and public administration and involve them in the reform process in order to implement processes that would give results for the citizens, which is the ultimate goal of this project that will be conducted during the next four years by TI BiH and CIN, with the support of SIDA and the Kingdom of Denmark.

Presented Findings on the Public Administration Reform

Press releases ● 01 July 2014

The goal of the project “Public Administration Reform Monitoring- PARM” is to contribute to better implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy and greater participation of civil society organization in the reform process with the aim of creating more transparent, efficient and effective public administration that would be useful to all citizens. Also, this project aims to indicate on immediate and concrete impact of the implementation of the public administration reform, as well as the progress of the implementation of the main goals of the institutional reform and public administration reform through the independent monitoring of the results and evaluation of the implementation of the public administration.

The conference represents an opportunity to discuss about the hitherto effects of the Public Administration Reform Strategy, and about the extent to which it has improved coherence, efficiency and effectiveness of the public administration and its institutions, and to reduce fragmentation within and between different levels of government.

The conference will be held on Wednesday, 2^nd July 2014, with the beginning at 11.00 a.m. at the Hotel Bristol in Sarajevo. The agenda is attached below, and the conference will be opened to the media.

Presentation of the “Civil Society Sustainability Project (CSSP) in BiH”

Press releases ● 30 June 2014

Introductory remarks of the event moderator were followed by the presentation of the ten-minute film about the issues of the sectors on which the civil society organizations and partners of the project CSSP will work in the following period. The attendees were addressed by Mr. David Barth, Director of the USAID Mission in BiH, Mr. Zlatan Ohranović, Executive Director of the CCI, and Ms. Aida Daguda, Executive Director of CPCD and Baroness Warsi, the representative of the Government of the UK. On completion of introductorz speeches, the partnership organizations were presented and guests were invited to visit civil society organizations’ fair located in the adjacent hall, and thus learn more about the projects of the organizations initiated through informal gathering and exchange of information.

Our organization will implement this project in cooperation with Center for Investigative Journalism.

Draft Law on Solidarity Fund does not Provide Transparent Allocation of Funds

Press releases ● 13 June 2014

Banja Luka 13^th June 2014 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH), Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (HCA), Center for Environment and Ostra Nula have sent to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Republic of Srpska their comments on the draft Law on Solidarity Fund for restoration of the Republic of Srpska, although the Law came to the Parliamentary Assembly of the RS in emergency procedure without the possibility of public debate.

The comments and suggestions submitted by these organizations stated a need for detailed definition of the criteria for allocation of funds and restoration of damage in the Law itself, instead of leaving the space for the Government to define these provisions subsequently. Conditions, modes, procedures, form and extent of the use of funds for restoration of damage should be proscribed by the Law rather than by subsequent decisions of the Government, in order to avoid discretion in regulating these procedures and their arbitrary interpretation. The fact that the Board of Directors of the Fund has been mainly consisted of the Government representatives enables the Government to have monopoly over the decision- making process, while on the other side citizens and civil sector are not allowed to monitor and influence on decision-making process.

Not only that the terms in the Law and the procedures for evaluation and restoration of the damage have been vaguely defined which may lead to arbitrary decision-making, but also the Draft Law does not guarantee transparency of the allocation of funds and decision-making. Therefore, the organizations have clearly stated the need for timely publication of detailed lists of all individual payments and donations to the account of the Fund, as well as the lists of all individual expenditures  in order to ensure the transparent work of the Fund.

TI BiH, HCA, Center for Environment and Ostra Nula remind that the resources at the disposal to the Solidarity Fund are intended to help those affected by the floods, and that it must provide fair and transparent allocation of funds and avoid any potential abuse. Unfortunately, the proposed solutions that have been sent to the Parliamentary Assembly of the RS, leave too many possibilities for arbitrary interpretation and allocation of funds, and do not give citizens a guarantee that the funds would actually be allocated to those in greatest need.

Draft Law on Solidarity Fund does not Provide Transparent Allocation of Funds

Projekat EU usmjeren na korupciju u BiH

Announcements ● 11 June 2014

Proposed Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest of Republic of Srpska Allow Abuse in Delivery and Distribution of Humanitarian Aid in Flood-Hit Areas

Press releases ● 11 June 2014

Banja Luka, 11^th June 2014 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) considers unacceptable proposed Amendments to the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in Governmental institutions of the Republic of Srpska, which along with the set of Laws on Establishing of Solidarity Fund have been forwarded in accordance with the emergency procedure to the National Assembly of the RS.

Proposed Amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest of Republic of Srpska Allow Abuse in Delivery and Distribution of Humanitarian Aid in Flood

The proposed Amendment to the Law refers to the introduction of the exception which bans public officials to be presidents or executive directors of associations or foundations that are financed from the budget in the amount exceeding 100.000 KM, wherein it has been proposed the exception that refers to the establishment of foundations and funds used for the repair of damage caused by natural disasters and other catastrophes. Although, the explanation states that the aim of this Amendment is to remove all obstacles during the establishment of the Solidarity Fund, it is necessary to emphasize that the Solidarity Fund whose activities are regulated by the Government is not the same as foundation that can be established by other legal entities or individuals and this Amendment to the Law will allow public officials to establish foundations that can be financed from the budget, which will open new opportunities for abuse.

TI BiH warns that in the aftermath of the disaster that struck BiH, it is necessary to eliminate opportunities for abuse that may occur during allocation of funds in the flood-stricken areas, and adoption of these Amendments to the Law would not only deepen the suspicion by the public, but would also enable public officials to use natural disaster for establishing of their own foundations and thus divert funds from the budget.

Therefore, TI BiH urges legislators to delimit by law the Solidarity Fund from other associations and foundations and provide protection against abuses that may occur during the distribution of funds for repair of damage.

Conference on “The Open Government Partnership in BiH”

Press releases ● 07 June 2014

The Open Government Partnership is global multilateral initiative that promotes transparency and openness of public authorities, and its participating countries are committed to undertake specific measures and actions in the areas of transparency, strengthening of citizens’ participation in governance, fight against corruption, introduction of new technologies in order to make public administration as efficient as possible. 63 countries are participating in the OGP initiative and every year that number grows. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in the region that has not joined the Initiative.

The conference on the Open Government Partnership will gather representatives of government, public institutions, civil society, the media and international community in BiH, as well as international experts and participants in the Open Government Partnership initiative, in order to provide an insight into international standards of government openness and comparative practice of other countries participating the Initiative, and also to discuss about challenges and opportunities for BiH in relation to the principles promoted by the OGP.

The conference will be held on Monday, 9^th June, at the Hotel Europe in Sarajevo, with the beginning at 10.30 a.m. The agenda is attached below.

Conference on “The Open Government Partnership in BiH”

BiH Joining OGP Initiative Supported by the Council of Ministers

Press releases ● 04 June 2014

Banja Luka, 4^th June 2014 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) welcomes the support of the Council of Ministers of BiH for joining of BiH in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative, proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and included in the session of the Council of Ministers held on 2^nd June 2014.

The Open Government Partnership is a global initiative committed to strengthening of broad accessibility to information held by the government, and at the same time promoting the empowerment of citizens’ participation and highest standards of accountability and integrity of government. The Partnership requires from the government institutions of the participating countries to promote open, efficient and accountable government and to cooperate with the civil society during the whole process.

For over a year, TI BiH, in cooperation with the Foundation CPI (Centre for Public Interest Advocacy), with the support of the Open Society Fund of BiH, has been advocating joining of BiH in the Open Government Partnership initiative. Meanwhile, contacts with the numerous organizations in the country and the region have been established, as well as participation at global and regional Partnership summits, which contributed to the creation of a clearer picture of priorities and importance of BiH joining the Initiative. Also, the first few steps are taken towards cooperation with the institutions of BiH enabling conduction of upcoming joint activities within the Partnership.

BiH still remains the only country in the region which has not officially started the joining process to this global initiative, and TI BiH welcomes the initial support of the Council of Ministers of BiH to join the Partnership. However, TI BiH hopes that this initiative, as many initiatives so far, does not represent a form of declarative support of the government, and expects from the Council of Ministers and other institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina to fulfill all the requirements for sending a letter of intent to OGP and, of course, to apply principles of the Partnership in the future.

BiH Joining OGP Initiative Supported by the Council of Ministers

The Court of BiH Accepted TI BiH Lawsuit against the Central Election Commission

Press releases ● 29 May 2014

TI BiH filed a report to CEC against Mr. Nermin Nikšić due to the facts that the Federal Government appointed his brother as Acting Executive Director of a public company Autoceste FBiH, and in 2012, it asked the CEC BiH to provide the information about actions taken in this case. CEC BiH refused to provide the information, so TI BiH has filed a lawsuit for violating the Law on Free Access to Information.

The Cort of BiH in its reasoning of the Judgement stated that the CEC BiH did not specify a single pragraph of the Law under which it is possible to make an exception regarding disclosure of the requested information, and therefore violated the procedure and offered no explanation for failing to provide the information. Accordingly, the Court of BiH has accepted the lawsut of the TI BiH and returned the request to CEC, and ordered the CEC BiH to pay procedural expences to the TI BiH.

In the meantime, the new Law on Conflic of Interest in BiH had been adopted, which deprives CEC BiH of its jurdistiction, prescribes establisment of a new commission and office and rehiring former CEC’s employees, and also blocks the implementation of the Law on Conflict of Interest of FBiH and Brčko District. Having in mind opstructions in the formation of the new commission, the question is when and how the decisions are to be made regading previous cases on conflict of interese which have been put on hold for months.

When it comes to the implementation of the Law on Free Access to Information, this is not the only verdict which support the fact that the public institutions in BiH have been violating the Law on Free Accesss to Information. During 2014, five lawsuits filed by TI BiH against different institutions at different levels were accepted. However, despite the growing number of verdicts, the institutions continue to violate the Law and prescribed procedures, causing damage not only to the public interest but also to the budget through the constat payments of the procedural expences.

Press rls The Court of BiH Accepted TI BiH Lawsuit against the Central Election Commission

Presentation of the final results of the evaluation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2009-2014

Press releases ● 15 May 2014

The results of evaluation conclude has the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2009-2014 has not achieved set objectives, and that the effects of the Strategy and their visibility are very weak.

Key challenges in the implementation of the Strategy are the lack of political will, which was directly reflected in delays in the implementation of the planned measures, mainly delays in appointment of the management of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption and ensuring financial resources for its functioning. Moreover, the lack of coordination and participation of all relevant stakeholders in the implementation of the Strategy, as well as the lack of ‘’local ownership’’ of the preparation of the strategic documents are also found to have affected the Anti-Corruption Strategy.

The event was opened by welcoming remarks by Natalia Dianiskova, Head of Operations Section for Social Development, Civil Society, Cross Border Cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Srdjan Blagovčanin, Executive Director of the Transparency International BiH.

‘’ Fight against corruption means having a proper legislative framework, including the bold strategy adopted and implemented at all levels of the governments. New Anti-Corruption Strategy needs to be in accordance with the requirements of EU, aligned with adopted and ratified conventions and applicable in local context, covering all necessary aspects of fight against corruption. This strategy needs to be inclusive, to meet expatiations of all relevant stakeholders including the civil society organizations. ”, said Natalia Dianiskova.

‘’The new Anti-Corruption Strategy must be grounded in lessons learnt from previous Strategies. BiH has lost lot of time and can no longer afford itself a luxury that the new anticorruption strategy remains again a dead letter that does not oblige anyone to anything.’’, stated Srđan Blagovčanin in his welcoming remarks.

Besides the presentation of the final results of the evaluation of the Anti-Corruption strategy and impacts of its implementation, detailed methodological approach for preparation of the Strategy and Action plan for the period 2015-2019 was also presented. Furthermore, participants discussed about the challenges in elaboration and adoption the new anti-corruption Strategy.

The European Union is funding project “Strengthening integrity and good governance for better implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy from local to national level” in the amount of 178.700 EUR from IPA 2010.

The project’s goal is to contribute fight against corruption in BiH by strengthening integrity, improving standards of governance and levels of transparency in the work of public institutions. Specific objective is to promote evidence-based and effective anti-corruption policy at both local and national level.

The project has duration of 24 months and it is implemented by the Transparency International BiH.

Presentation of the final results of the evaluation of the ACS 2009-2014

The Council of Ministers Acted Unconstitutionally

Press releases ● 14 May 2014

Sarajevo 14^th May 2014 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) strongly condemns the request of the Council of Ministers of BiH for sanctioning those who hold the highest appointments in the country- the President of the Court, the Chief Prosecutor of BiH Prosecutor’s Office- because of their engagement in structural dialogue between the EU and BiH, that took place on 29^th April in Brussels.

In this way, the Council of Ministers acts outside the scope of their jurisdiction, violating the separation of powers principle and further undermining the Rule of Law. Unfortunately, the Council of Ministers put itself openly in the service of blocking Bosnia and Herzegovina’s progress to the European Union membership. The request for postponement of a structural dialogue and the latest attempt to discipline and put judicial institutions under the direct control, as well as the announcement of the Amendments to the section of Law referring to the election of prosecutors, the Council of Ministers shows that it tries directly to undermine judicial institutions.

“The actions of the Council of Ministers are just an arbitrary act that is not only in the direct contradiction with the international commitments of BiH but also in contradiction with the Constitution and the separation of powers principle,” warned in a written statement, Mr. Srđan Blagovčanin, Executive Director of TI BiH.

“We expect from the EU to take a very clear position in relation to the recent events and behavior of the Council of Ministers. BiH not only fails to implement the international commitments in the integration process, buy it rapidly devastate the institutions and legal framework“, concluded Blagovčanin.

Press rls The Council of Ministers Acted Unconstitutionally

Okrugli sto „Finansiranje političkih partija pred Opšte izbore 2014.“

Announcements ● 25 April 2014

A Lawsuit has been Filed against the Author and the Publisher of the Book ‘The Destruction of the Republic of Srpska’

Press releases ● 22 April 2014

Banja Luka 22nd April 2014 – Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI B&H), the Center for Informative Decontaminationa of Youth (Buka) Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka (HCA), and Ms. Svetlana Cenić and Ms. Tanja Topić, have filed a lawsuit to the Basic Court in Banja Luka against Mr. Sefan Karaganović, Mr. Nenad Novaković and the publishing house ’Besjeda’ for slander.

Namely, in the book The Destruction of the Republic of Srpska: Theory and technology of upheaval,  these organizations and individuals have been placed on ‘’the black list’’ and were accused of overthrowing of constitutional order and inciting to riot. It is particularly worrying that these serious allegations have been published as a part of edition of the SNSD, and can be found on the official website of this ruling party in the RS, which further heats the lynch atmosphere, threatens the freedom of speech and places the Republic of Srpska on par with dictatorships.

Therefore, the TI B&H, ‘’Buka’’, Ms. Cenić and Topić, invoking the Law on Protection against Defamation filed a lawsuit against the author of the controversial book Mr. Sefan Karaganović, the publishing house ‘Besjeda’ and its editor-in-chief Mr. Nenad Novaković. The lawsuits clearly state evidence against the claim that those are ’fake organizations’ and points to the lack of any arguments. Publishing these very serious allegations without any evidences and arguments and without citing of any sources, indicates that the sole objective of these articles is to discredit and call for the lynching of these organizations and individuals, which sends a very dangerous message to the whole civil society in the Republic of Srpska.

Having in mind that these allegations are damaging the reputation of given organizations and individuals and endanger their performance and safety, the main goal of the lawsuit is to condemn such behaviour and to stop the practice of creating any black lists and calling for the lynching of those who point out to irregularities in the society. TI B&H hopes that the Court will stand for the protection of the civil society organizations and individuals, and thereby make its contribution to preventing the practice of regime writers to fight against the media and civil society organizations with attacks, allegations and attempts to criminalize organizations and individuals.

Increasing the transparency of public administration reform

Press releases ● 14 March 2014

The reform of the public administration is a fundamental requirement for EU accession and for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of many different state, entity and Brcko institutions. The reform is guided by the public administration reform strategy and includes actions to improve strategic planning, public finance, human resource management, administrative systems, communication and e-government. The reform process is coordinated by the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office (PARCO) and to date 10 projects have been financed by Sweden and other donors such as Norway, Denmark, Germany, EU, and in previous phases the Netherlands and UK.

The reform aims at changing the current public administration characterized by low skills, non-merit based and un-transparent recruitment, poor public communication, under-developed financial control systems and lack of proper planning systems. The reforms have been very slow and the results are limited. The most recent EU progress report noted that “the public administration reform process lacks the necessary political support”. Implementation has been problematic, with limited progress in strengthening administrative capacity for legal harmonization and implementation of the acquis. The main reasons are said to be lack of skills, lack of financial support from the entities, overlapping responsibilities between the entities and cantons, the absence of a cooperative management culture and improper political interference.

The objective of the PARM project is to monitor and evaluate the reform process and its effects on citizens and the private sector. Investigative stories and public events are expected to raise awareness and increase transparency. TI BiH and CIN will focus on three issues: Human resources management in public administration, Management of public finances, and Transparency, accountability and integrity of public administration. Engaging civil society in should empower citizens to understand and engage in the process of public administration reform, leading to better results.

“The Government of Sweden will continue to support the Public Administration Reform, but that we expect more tangible results. Through the support to the civil society organisations Transparency International BiH and the Centre for Investigative Reporting, CIN, the intent is to put more light on what is working and what is not working. The ultimate aim is to creating conditions for more transparent, efficient and effective public administration in BiH that will be of service to all citizens”, according to the Swedish Ambassador, H.E. Fredrik Schiller.

Leila Bičakčić, Executive Director of CIN, welcomes the project as “the aim of it is to enhance the communication with citizens through a series of investigative stories, and thus contribute to the democratic dialogue between the citizens and institutions in BiH”.

The Executive Director of TI BiH, Srđan Blagovčanin states that “Public Administration Reform is a priority task for BiH, on which success depend the quality of life of BiH citizens, and for this reason civil society organisations should give their contribution to PAR implementation”.