September 4, 2025. – At the proposal of the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Government of the Federation of BiH adopted the Decision on the adoption of the Revised Action Plan for Public Administration Reform (PAR). The Revised Action Plan for Public Administration Reform is an integral part of the decision adopted today, which enters into force the day after its publication in the Official Gazette of the FBiH.
In the explanation, the proposer stated that in accordance with key priority 14 of the European Commission’s Opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application for membership of the European Union from 2019, Bosnia and Herzegovina should take the necessary steps to improve the overall functioning of public administration by ensuring a professional and depoliticized civil service, and ensure a coordinated, nationwide approach to policymaking.
It is added that the public administration reform is taking place on the basis of the Strategic Framework for Public Administration Reform in BiH 2018-2022 and the Action Plan for Public Administration Reform from 2020. The decisions on the adoption of the Strategic Framework for PAR and the Action Plan were made by the Council of Ministers of BiH, the Government of the Brčko District of BiH, the Government of the Federation of BiH and the Government of the Republika Srpska. By adopting the Strategic Framework and the accompanying Action Plan, the recommendations from the European Commission’s Report for BiH were implemented, as well as the recommendations from the first three meetings of the Special Group for Public Administration Reform.
The 2021 Country Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina recognised that some progress had been made in implementing priority 14 of the Opinion with the adoption of the Action Plan, but pointed to challenges in its effective implementation, the Commission recommended an extension of the validity of the Strategic Framework and Action Plan. The Commission’s recommendation was implemented in 2022.
The proponent also explained that the extension of the deadlines for the PAR Strategic Framework in BiH 2018-2022 and the PAR Action Plan ensured the smooth continuation of the implementation of the public administration reform. However, by linearly moving the deadlines, most of the key reform results were moved to the last two years of the validity period of the PAR Action Plan (2026 and 2027), which, from the aspect of the reduced ambition of the reform, but also the difficult monitoring process, led the European Commission to recommend revising this plan through the 2023 Report on BiH. (Source: https://fbihvlada.gov.ba/hr/usvojen-revidirani-akcioni-plan-za-reformu-javne-uprave).