A plenary meeting of the Reform Process Monitoring with Bosnia and Herzegovina took place in Brussels on 19 February 2009. The Commission delegation was led by Mr Pierre Mirel, Director in the Directorate General for Enlargement. The delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was led by Mr Vojin Mijatovic, Advisor to the Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers. The discussion focused on issues related to reconciliation and regional cooperation, constitution and governance, strengthening administrative capacity, civil society, human rights and protection of minorities.
The Commission underlined that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to genuinely meet the objectives and conditions for the closure of the Office of the High Representative. The Commission also stressed that the evolution of the BiH constitutional framework is indispensable and that a country-wide population census needs to be held in 2011. The Commission welcomed the Prud Agreement as a step in the right direction. The upcoming meeting of the leaders of SNSD, SDA and HDZ in Mostar will be a good opportunity to continue this positive trend. The Agreement now needs to be translated into concrete action and get wider political support through the democratic institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Commission underlined the importance of implementing the Interim Agreement and strengthening the administrative capacity in view of the implementation of the full Stabilisation and Association Agreement. In this regard, the Commission pointed out that the State Aid authority needs to be established at State level as it is the case for competition.
The Commission welcomed the adoption of the National strategy for processing of war crimes and called on Bosnia and Herzegovina to focus on its implementation. Bosnia and Herzegovina was encouraged to take action to address the lack of harmonisation of the legal codes used in war crimes trials at State and entity levels, and to improve witness protection. The Commission urged BiH to take the necessary measures to ensure that judicial procedures are completed properly and in time, notably when they concern serious war crime cases.
While acknowledging some progress in the field of civil society and human rights, the Commission encouraged Bosnia and Herzegovina to make further efforts to establish regular and systematic communication with civil society. It emphasised that the enforcement of the decisions of the Human Rights Commission of the BiH Constitutional Court remains an issue. Concrete action is also required to address the judicial backlog of cases of human rights violations and to ensure enforcement. The Commission expects sustained action as regards abuses of prisoners and detainees by police and prison guards, as well as cases of physical attacks against journalists. Moreover, the need to further improve the implementation of the Laws on national minorities was highlighted.