At today’s online meeting, organized by the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office and the SIGMA, the Monitoring Report on the state of Public Administration in BiH for 2024 was presented, which concluded that some progress has been made in public administration reform, but that Bosnia and Herzegovina is below the average of the other five Western Balkan countries (North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo).
The European Commission, based on this SIGMA report, is also preparing its report on BiH’s progress on the path to the EU.
The Coordinator for Public Administration Reform in BiH, Darko Kasap, stated that last year’s assessment was “significantly more difficult” compared to the assessments from 2021/2022 and 2017, and thanked all institutions that participated in the process of preparing the report.
Kasap emphasized the importance of the SIGMA Principles of Public Administration, which he said represent valuable guidelines for Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as other countries that are in the process of joining the European Union.
“They are an excellent analytical framework for measuring the results of the country’s public administration in alignment with the principles of the European Administrative Space and international practices and remain a key document for measuring the progress of the administration’s readiness in the accession process,” Kasap assessed.
He mentioned that there are also examples of good results in BiH. For example, in the area of public procurement, progress has been made, where BiH has achieved values that are at or above the average of the Western Balkan countries for some indicators. A similar situation is also the case in the case of multi-level governance, which is part of the updated SIGMA Principles, where BiH also has good results or the area of external audit in some segments.
However, he added, the report shows that the scores that Bosnia and Herzegovina has are mostly below the average of the neighboring countries, especially in the area of Policy Development and Coordination (32 while the WB average is 46.4), and in the area of Service Delivery and Digitalization (23.6 compared to the WB average of 45.1), and that BiH will have to make a significant effort to reach the regional average.
The SIGMA report provides key insights and recommendations for decision-makers, as well as detailed performance data for institutions.
“The general assessment is that although the overall performance remains weak, some progress has been made in public administration reforms,” it was said at the meeting.
In December 2022, Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted candidate status for membership of the European Union (EU), and in March 2024, the European Council decided to open accession negotiations.
In 2021-2022, SIGMA conducted a full assessment of BiH’s administration in all areas covered by the Principles of Public Administration. The overall findings of SIGMA’s Monitoring Report were not optimistic: “Progress in several areas has been limited, and some serious shortcomings, previously identified, remain unresolved. Even where the legislative framework has been improved, implementation is usually weak and fails to achieve the main objectives of the reforms.”
Key systemic challenges facing the BiH administration include low reform implementation due to a lack of political attention and coordination, fragmented governance that complicates cooperation between different administrative levels.
Furthermore, insufficient financing of public administration reforms was mentioned, weak political coordination and planning, leading to inconsistent and poor quality decision-making, shortcomings in accountability and transparency, with poor reporting and public engagement, inadequate human resource management (HRM), marked by inefficiency and political influence.
Limited digitalization and modernization of public services was mentioned, as well as public financial management systems that suffer from weak budgetary discipline and oversight.
The meeting noted that, since the last SIGMA assessment, some important developments have taken place in BiH
“After years of inactivity, the Public Administration Reform governance and coordination mechanism is finally in place and operational. In 2023, a Coordination Platform was adopted at all levels of government, leading to the establishment of a Coordination Board. The comprehensive Public Finance Management (PFM) Strategy, adopted in 2022, represents an important development in improving fiscal management at different levels of government,” emphasized SIGMA’s Egle Rimkute
PFM strategies specific to each administrative level have been developed, laying the foundations for better financial management. However, the implementation rate remains low, ranging from 4% to 21%.
Progress was assessed in digital government services, in particular the launch of a cloud-based electronic signature by the Agency for Identification Documents, Registries and Data Exchange in May 2024.
This development represents an important step towards simplifying the digital exchange of data between government, businesses and citizens.
In December 2022, amendments to the Law on Public Procurement entered into force to improve transparency and efficiency in the procurement process. In March 2024, the Public Procurement Strategy for the period 2024-2028 was adopted, with the aim of professionalizing and modernizing procurement practices.
While these represent significant steps towards improving the efficiency and transparency of public administration, challenges in implementation, coordination and political will continue to affect the pace of these reforms.
The workshop was attended by more than 100 participants from the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, the Federation of BiH and the Brčko District of BiH, as well as representatives of SIGMA.
The workshop was organized by SIGMA in cooperation with the Public Administration Reform Coordinator’s Office.