TI BiH on the failure to adopt the Reform Agenda: Bosnia and Herzegovina is losing hundreds of millions due to the personal interests of individuals

Sarajevo, 27 August 2025 – The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina once again failed to discuss the Reform Agenda at today’s session. Due to this delay, Bosnia and Herzegovina lost €108.5 million in July — equivalent to 10% of the funds allocated under the Growth Plan. While neighbouring countries are already making significant use of these funds, BiH continues to lag behind, even compared to those that obtained their European perspective much later. Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) therefore calls on the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to hold a special session and adopt conclusions that will oblige the Council of Ministers to adopt the Reform Agenda without further delay. The authorities have repeatedly missed the deadlines they set themselves, and the European Commission has announced another 10% reduction if the Reform Agenda is not adopted by the end of September.

It is evident that key decision-makers in BiH continue long-standing obstructions of the EU integration process, despite the fact that the implementation of these reforms is crucial for establishing an effective rule of law and combating corruption. Once again, the authorities have placed daily politics, personal and party interests above the interests of citizens and the country’s foreign policy priorities. With such an approach, the real challenges are yet to come in the implementation phase, especially considering the level of obstruction already visible in adopting the Reform Agenda, where only two out of 113 measures remain disputed — the removal of the entity veto in the State Aid Council, and the obligation to respect and fill vacant positions in the Constitutional Court of BiH.

However, many other measures included in this document have been repeatedly identified as priorities on BiH’s EU path, yet have never been fulfilled. It is therefore clear that the dispute over these two measures merely serves as a pretext to sabotage the entire EU integration process.

It should also be stressed that the drafting of the Reform Agenda has been marked by a complete lack of transparency. The Council of Ministers failed to communicate about the process, and the public learned about disagreements only through opposing statements from political parties, rather than through official channels of institutions responsible for managing EU integration. Parliaments and their competent committees have remained silent observers, without taking steps to place this issue on the agenda or exert pressure on the executive to adopt the Reform Agenda.

This process also clearly demonstrates that the coordination mechanism for EU integration, established in 2016, does not function as intended and is being misused in key processes — from responding to the European Commission Questionnaire, to drafting the Integration Programme, and now the Reform Agenda. The voting rights of all levels of government, combined with the rule of unanimity regardless of actual competences, have turned the coordination mechanism bodies into instruments of obstruction rather than drivers of reform progress.

TI BiH therefore urges the Council of Ministers of BiH to adopt the Reform Agenda without delay, fully aligning it with the requirements of the European Commission, to ensure access to funds under the Western Balkans Growth Plan. TI BiH also calls on parliaments and their committees for European integration to hold thematic sessions and hearings to raise this issue publicly, exert pressure on the executive to open the process to citizens, and reassess the functionality of the coordination mechanism.

TI BiH further calls on competent institutions to stop misusing the European integration process and ensure that all laws and policies on the EU path are adopted through regular procedures, with mandatory public consultations.