Bosnia and Herzegovina remains without at least 70 million euros in grants that it was supposed to receive at the beginning of autumn from the fund provided for the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, because the politicians in that country failed to agree on the reform program insisted on by the European Commission.
As the EU Delegation in BiH confirmed to the local media, the denial of the planned financial aid intended for development projects is now completely certain, and the reason is that even by the new deadline, set by the Commission until July 16, there was no agreement within BiH on the reform program measures that should be implemented with that money.
"Failure to adopt the reform program in accordance with the Commission's comments will have consequences. Unlike other partners in the region, Bosnia and Herzegovina will not receive the first unconditional installment... which is planned for payment after the summer in the amount of seven percent (of the total planned funds), and will miss a significant opportunity for early financial support," the EU Delegation said in a statement.
The payment of these funds in BiH was hoped for after an agreement was reached on this year's budget, which the House of Representatives of the Parliament of BiH managed to adopt on Tuesday after six months of blockades, but now it has become clear that the European Commission is not giving up on the previously clearly set condition that the Council of Ministers of BiH must to adopt and submit for assessment a concrete reform plan, writes Hina agency.
That program overlooked 113 measures, and the authorities of the two entities agreed to 110 of them. However, the authorities of the Republika Srpska (RS) rejected any possibility of agreeing to the remaining three measures, which in the end became an insurmountable obstacle for access to EU funds in the total amount of one billion euros. , how much was calculated that BiH could receive from the total package worth six billion euros.
One of the bizarre reasons is that the RS does not want BiH to have a unique phone number for calls in emergency situations, which is the practice in all EU countries, but they want each entity to have its own number.
In addition to the fact that they do not want a single emergency call center to be established in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as confirmed by the Prime Minister of the RS Radovan Višković, RS officials also refuse to abolish the possibility of entity veto on decisions on the allocation of aid from state funds, and they do not want to allow it either. filling the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina with new judges and ultimately demand its reorganization.
"If that is the condition, there is no need for further talks," said Višković earlier, who proposed that the EU grant them 95 percent of the planned funds if they cannot already reach an agreement on all measures. Such a proposal of his received a clear rejection from Brussels, and due to the denial of money, the consequences will be felt not only by the RS but also by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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