During the plenary session (11-14 February 2019) of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs debate on the 2018 Commission Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Statements by Cristian Dan PREDA (EPP, RO), George CIAMBA, Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Johannes HAHN, Member of the EC in charge of European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Dubravka ŠUICA (EPP, HR), Knut FLECKENSTEIN (S&D, DE),

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

EU - Bosnia and Herzegovina (T)

PREDA, Cristian Dan (EPP, RO)

HAHN, Johannes (AT, EC)

ŠUICA, Dubravka (EPP, HR, EC)

FLECKENSTEIN, Knut (S&D, DE)

CIAMBA, George (RO)

2018 Commission Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (German), Evelyne GEBHARDT (S&amp;D, DE), EP Vice-President, We are coming to the next point on the agenda on BiH. 

SOUNDBITE (French), Cristian Dan PREDA (EPP, RO), People in BiH have their right to the political system that works, an institutional system that works, that doesn't discriminate against anybody. They have a right to decent life in their country rather than forcing them to take a path of exile. They have a right to independent judiciary, which does its work without political interference. The citizens of BiH have a right to live in a society which is not suffering from a gangrene of corruption that you see in each sector of their lives. They have a right as well to an efficient demonstration that is not politicised which is there so serve the citizens and not the other way around. And finally they have a right to free media which informs them in an objective fashion without any political pressure.

SOUNDBITE (English), George CIAMBA, Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, However we share your concerns, that much time has been lost on divisive rhetoric and pre-electoral campaigning. This has significantly slowed down the pace of reforms. Number of important high priority areas remain, we need to do more on the inclusive social economic reforms: the reforms in the rule of law field including the fight against corruption and organised crime, public administration reform, the fight against radicalisation and terrorism as well as further improving cooperation between all levels of government. [...] We regret that no compromise was reached to amend the electoral framework ahead of the October 2018 elections. As pointed out in your resolution all political leaders now need to assume the responsibilities and find a domestic solution with regard to the federation house of peoples.

SOUNDBITE (English), Johannes HAHN, Member of the EC in charge of European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, The capacity of the newly elected leaders to deliver will be the yard stick upon which the EU will access BiH readiness to further advance towards the Union. In this respect the Commission is fully dedicated to advancing BiH's EU perspective. Our upcoming on the country's application for the Union membership will provide for the first time a comprehensive roadmap of reforms for the country to carry out for the first time against the entire obligations the EU member states have.

SOUNDBITE (English), Johannes HAHN, Member of the EC in charge of European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, We are stepping up our technical assistance in the country with dedicated field support in the key areas of rule of law and fundamental rights including the monitoring of the number of the high profile cases. The commission now also has doubled the financial assistance envelop towards BiH: 80 million Euro per year for the period 2017 - 2020 to support the country implementing a number of country-wide strategies such as on energy, environment or rural development. This in addition to the support provided as part of the regional envelop notably on the connectivity agenda projects. 

SOUNDBITE (Hungarian), Dubravka &#352;UICA (EPP, HR), Electoral laws must be reviewed and reformed. That would be the foundations for the subsequent political reforms. There is also a need to avoid any interference or manipulation in elections which have taken place. Croatian citizens don't have the same rights in BiH as others, so it is essential that their equality be established. So the new political leaders in BiH face great responsibilities. We hope that we will be able to support them in the future.

SOUNDBITE (German), Knut FLECKENSTEIN (S&amp;D, DE), The S&amp;D also want BiH to find its way to the EU. And because we want that, we want to also raise a few critical points. We would like the necessary reforms to be enacted more quickly, more smoothly, as before the reconciliation process has not been pursued energetically enough. There is still too much of dividing the people in the country and those in government are not trying to overcome the divisions. The Dayton agreement was a huge effort and a great achievement to put an end to the war. But, obviously, it isn't helping to create a common state. 