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EU adopts programme to support Bosnia and Herzegovina

The European Commission has adopted an annual programme (2002) worth € 71.9 million to support the participation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the Stabilization and Association process (SAp). The programme focuses on five priority areas: Democratic Stabilization (€ 25 million), Administrative Capacity Building (€ 10.5 million), Economic and Social Development (€ 13.4 million), Environment and Natural Resources (€ 6.5 million) and Justice and Home Affairs (€16.5 Million).

The Commission has adopted a support programme for Bosnia and Herzegovina within the CARDS 2002 budget. The programme is based on a Country Strategy for 2002 2006 which assesses BiH's political and socio-economic situation and policy agenda and identifies EU policy responses and co-operation objectives. The programme for BiH underlines External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten's recent statement that: « ...the EU is getting more and more deeply involved in the region. Our policy amounts not to an exit strategy, but to an entry strategy to help the Balkan countries themselves become members, one day, of the EU ».

The 2002 programme for Bosnia and Herzegovina focuses on five areas:

• Democratic Stabilization: €23.5 million to facilitate the return of refugees and internally displaced persons (housing repair, de-mining, employment, social infrastructure etc.) With € 1.5 million, the Commission will also support Public Broadcasting reform in BiH.
  
  
• Administrative Capacity Building: € 9 million for technical assistance, training and equipment for Customs and Taxation. This will support the introduction of modern customs and tax systems, will increase revenue and facilitate trade. €1.5 million will assist the introduction of basic public procurement legislation thus improving financial accountability and efficiency in the handling of public funds.
• Economic and Social Development: €13.4 million to support economic development, establish an integrated national BiH market, facilitate exports to the EU and beyond and promote foreign direct investment. Through the TEMPUS programme, the Commission will also promote the reform of higher education.
  
  
• Environment and Natural Resources: € 6.5 million for the development of an environmental regulatory framework and a national environmental monitoring system, river basin management and improved waste management.
  
  
• Justice and Home Affairs: The Commission will help BiH establish a State committed to democracy, human rights and rule of law. To this end € 2 million will be devoted to reform of the prosecution system, €3.5 million to the Independent Judicial Commission and € 2 million to the "Dayton institutions" (Commission for Real Property Claims of Displaced Persons and Refugees the Human Rights Chamber and Human Rights Ombudsman). To further support the development of an impartial professional police service in BiH, € 5 million will also go towards technical assistance, training and equipment in support of the BiH police forces. € 1 million will help establish an asylum and migration policy in line with EU standards. Further, an Integrated Border Management component totaling € 3 million will support (re-) construction of border crossings.

The programme will be implemented under the responsibility of the Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Background:

Since 1991 Community funds of over € 2 billion have been committed to BiH. In 1991 - 2000 humanitarian assistance provided by ECHO, the Humanitarian Aid Office, totaled €1.032 billion. In 1996 - 2000 BiH received assistance under the Obnova and Phare programmes amounting to € 890.7 million. In 2001, assistance of € 105.25 million was committed under the CARDS Programme. In addition, between 1996 and 2001 EU Member States contributed over €1.2 billion in assistance. The priorities and actions identified in the EC's 2002 2006 BiH Country Strategy Paper reflect those areas in which the EU has a particular knowledge and comparative advantage and thus a particular contribution to make.

The CARDS assistance programme supports the participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Former Yugoslavia Republic of Macedonia in the SAp. The SAp encourages stabilization in the western Balkans by promoting closer association with the EU. The SAP thus creates a framework allowing each country to progress at its own speed towards integration into EU structures. The CARDS programme assists that integration process.

The programme will be published on the EuropeAid Co-operation Office's website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/cards/index_en.htm

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