Speech of Dimitris Kourkoulas, Head of EC Delegation in BiH, on the signing of Memorandum of understanding and Common Platform.

Respected Excellencies, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the European Commission, it is my pleasure and honour to welcome you to this important event. I would like to say a few words on behalf of all the donors of the PAR Fund. In addition to the European Union, the Governments of our Member States, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom are providing substantial contributions.

As you know, pursuing public administration reform is very important for BiH in view of its European future. BiH’s progress in harmonizing and strengthening its public administrations across the country is one of the four conditions the EU has set for signing the SAA and a prerequisite for Bosnia and Herzegovina to make significant steps in its EU accession process.

Effective and systematic implementation of the PAR Strategy will not only bring Bosnia closer to the EU, it will also help make the public administration more service oriented and give better value for tax payers money. In short: it will have a direct and positive impact on the lives of citizens.

Without taking the necessary steps – as described in the adopted PAR Strategy and Action Plan – to jointly improve the effectiveness, accountability and efficiency of the administration at each level of government the process of harmonization of over 100.000 pages of EU laws and regulations will be a impossible task.

In addition, without simplifying and strengthening systems of cooperation and coordination between all levels of government, implementation of laws across the country may well be a "mission impossible"

This time last year the State and Entity Prime Ministers as well as the Brcko District Mayor committed to implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy. I am pleased that this strategy was adopted by all the governments.

However, the proof of success will be in the implementation. In the first half of this year we have expressed at several occasions our concern that systematic implementation has not yet taken place, and sometimes even noticed backsliding on some specific issues.

Since the appointment of Ms. Savic as the National PAR Coordinator in May of this year we have seen some progress in the advancement of Public Administration Reform

In this context we, the donors are happy to provide funding in order to make further progress.

Through this Memorandum we committed to financially support the implementation of the PAR Strategy.

The EU and the Governments of the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom have pooled our funds to develop a PAR Fund. This Fund – with an initial value of 4,5 million EURO, should finance activities deriving from the PAR Strategy and Action Plan.

Unlike traditional donor funding, not the donors but PAR Coordinator's office will be given the task to manage the Fund.

It will take the lead in identifying and prioritizing PAR projects in line with the Strategy. The establishment of the PAR Fund should therefore also be seen as a sign of trust from the donors in the capability of your country’s institutions and an encouragement to take responsibility in moving the process forward.

Therefore We the donors strongly encourage you to speedily start implementing the PAR Strategy and Action Plan in a systematic and effective way and truly make progress in the pursuit of a better administration that is fully ready to take on board the requirements deriving from European Integration.

The PAR Fund donors will continue to help you in this important endeavour.