Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Holds Its 71st Session

Progress Report on Reform Agenda Action Plan Implementation Adopted 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Progress Report on Reform Agenda Action Plan Implementation for the Council of Ministers of BIH level. Within the competences of the Council of ministers of BIH, totally implemented were 53 per cent measures, and if a time span is taken into consideration (measures foreseen for a four-year period of time), totally realised was 80 per cent of measures scheduled for implementation until August 3, 2016.

 

Prevention of Illegal Passenger Transport

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a Proposal Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on International and Inter-Entity Road Transport, in order to remove uncertainties in the existing law.

The proposed Amendments and Supplements Law deals with the issue of illegal Passenger transport in international transport, especially taking regard of difficulties encountered with by competent inspection bodies when it comes to proving of offence and launching corresponding procedures.

This Law also harmonises Bosnia and Herzegovina legislation with the relevant European Union legislation in this sector. The Law will be provided to the Parliamentarian Assembly for consideration under regular procedure.

 

Semi-annual 2016 Budget Execution Report Adopted

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Ministry of Finance and Treasury-prepared Budget Execution Report of BIH Institutions and International Obligations of BIH for January-June 2016.

Total realised revenues and support for financing of institutions in the first half year were KM 519,651,207 or 55 per cent relative to the budgeted revenues.

In the same period of time, the total realised expenditures in the BIH Institutions Budget were KM 412,853,287 or 34 per cent in relation to thee corrected budget, which includes additional special purpose resources.

In accordance with their 2012 Letter of Intent for implementation of the Stand-By Arrangement, concluded with the IMF, Bosnia and Herzegovina Institutions continued with savings in incomes and material expanses in 2016, as well. Besides, the Law on BIH Institutions budget and International Obligations of BIH for 2016 froze further employment in the BIH Institutions, to the limit of total number of employees as per the Budget Law for 2015, employment dynamics in 2016. Only in extraordinary cases (for the newly-form institutions and similar) such hiring beyond the projection may be approved by the Council of Ministers of BIH.

As to the foreign debt, in the time between January 1 and June 30, 2016, all due obligations were serviced regularly, in the total amount of KM 332,310,885. 38.

 

2016-2020 Small and Light Weapon Control Strategy Adopted

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Ministry of Security proposed Small and Light Weapon Control Strategy for 2016-2020, with an accompanying Action Plan.

The Strategy was drafted based on the EU, UN and other international organisations’ legal framework, with an aim at strengthening of efficacy of all stakeholders in the area of small and light weapon control (SALW) in BIH.

The Strategy is especially focused to continued harmonisation of the legislation with international standards, further betterment of domestic and foreign trade with arms, reduction of arms-implying incidents  and number of illegal arms possessed by citizens, improvement of citizens+ confidence in the BIH Institutions, as well as reduction of surplus small and light weapon with the Ministry of Defence of BIH.A special attention will be drawn to the strengthening of overall administrative capacities of all relevant bodies in BIH.

The planned strategic aims implementation and further development of international and regional cooperation in the field, Bosnia and Herzegovina will contribute not only to the improvement of general security in the country, but it will be improved regionally and globally.

The accompanying Action Plan elaborates concrete activities and their holders, including the deadlines for aims implementation in terms of betterment of legal framework, reduction of illegal small and light weapon, management SALW in possession of the Armed Forces of BIH, and international and regional cooperation and cooperation with NGOs.

The Coordination boar for small and light weapon control, which developed both the Strategy and Action Plan

 

Saudi Grans to Support Srebrenica and High Education in Sarajevo

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a Proposal Memorandum of Understanding for Saudi Grant for reconstruction of a number of returnees’ houses in Srebrenica and Economic Support Project between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The grunt funds, worth EUR 1 million, are intended to fund construction works for reconstruction of 55 houses of returnees and for procurement of equipment and agriculture appliances. The project was planned to be completed by the end of 2017.

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a Proposal Memorandum of Understanding for construction and furbishing of the “King Salman Bin Abdulaziz” Research Institute” under the Sarajevo School for Science and Technology between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Memorandum refers to the Saudi Arabia grant funds in amount of about USD 10.13 million, and the project should be finalised by the end of 2019.

The Ministry of Finance and Treasury should provide the Proposals Memorandum to the BIH Presidency for further procedure, with a proposal to sign Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda for the BIH signatory.

 

Loan Agreement with KfW for construction of Hrgud Windmill

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH defined a Proposal Loan and Project Agreement between KfW, Frankfurt am Main and Bosnia and Herzegovina, represented by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (Borrower) and Republika Srpska, represented by the Ministry of Finance and Power Utility of Republika Srpska (ERS) (Project Implementation Agency), for amount of EUR 60,000,000.00 – for Hurgud Windmill, with Basics for Conclusion of the Agreement.

With the Hurgud Windmill construction Republika Srpksa will get its first project of such type, for power generation from renewable sources. The Hurgud Windmill will be constructed in the Municipality of Berkovići and it should consist of 16 wind-turbines of total installed power of 48 MW and with annual production of 126 GWh.

The overall EUR 60,000,000.00 worth loan is allocated to Republika Srpska, with 15 term and four-year grace period.

The initiator, Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BIH, will provide the Proposal Agreement to the BIH Presidency for further procedure, and Minister of Finance and Treasury Vjekoslav Bevanda was proposed for the BIH signatory.

 

Decision on “Perspective” Programme for 2016-2020

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH took a decision to join funds from the Ministry of Defence Budget into a multi-annual project of transition and care taking of released staff of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces of BIH, titled the “Perspective” Programme, and adopted Information of the Project.

The Council of Ministers granted its approval top the Ministry of Defence of BIH to realise the “Perspective” Programme in the period of time between 2016 and 2020, within the approved funds in amount of KM 3,242,600.

The Decision was made in order to secure assistance and support of B_IH Institutions in the reintegration of released personnel of the Armed Forces of BIH into the civil society and their reemployment.

 

Report on GREECO Recommendations Implementation

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted Information of the Ministry of Security of BIH on the adoption of the Third Provisional Report on harmonisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with GREECO recommendations.

The Report with recommendation was adopted at the 72^nd GREECO plenary session, held on June 27-July 1, 2016 in Strasbourg, in which Report GREECO urged BIH authorities to step-up reforms and implement the recommendation in the spheres of political parties’ funding and Criminal Code on Corruption. The Ministry of Security was tasked to provide the Report with recommendations to the competent institutions.

 

Implementation of Convention on Child Protection from Sexual Abuse

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted Information on documents of the Committee of Members to the Council of Europe Convention on Child Protection from Sexual Abuse and mistreatment – Lanzarote Committee.

The first report on the Convention implementation, which refers to child protection form sexual abuse in circle of confidence, with attachments, contains a general review of the agreement, good practice examples and recommendation for improvement of the Convention implementation. The first report deals with criminalisation of child abuse in confidence circle of confidence, relevant data collection, best interest of child and criminal procedure, and obligations of legally responsible person concerning such cases. .

The table of measures/initiatives for implementation monitoring of the first report recommendations contain severity recommendations with a separate box for responses by signatory states, among which is BIH, so as to describe measures taken or planned to be taken.

All countries are supposed to provide their filled tables by October 2016, so that the first monitoring cycle of the Convention implementation might be concluded.

Adopted was also an Opinion on Article 23 of the Lanzarote Convention and its elaboration, which relates to hiring children for sexual abuse via IT. The Opinion was developed by the Committee as a concern for deeds that lead to on-line sexual abuse of children and youth to remain not sanctioned and not recognised as criminal acts. This Opinion might be used as a guideline for supplementing respective criminal codes of signatory states signatories by those criminal acts of sexual child abuse made on-line.

The Ministry for human Rights and Refuges of BIH is responsible to provide these documents to the Entity and Brčko District Governments for further proceeding.

 

Addendum Attachment of Institutions for 2016 BIH Report

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted an Addendum Attachment of BIH Institutions for the 2016 BIH Report, with information on its drafting process.  Also, a Report of the Directorate for European Integrations on the 2015 Report Priorities Realisation Action Plan implementation was adopted, which relates to the BIH Institutions.

As per with the European Commission request, BIH provided the BIH Institutions Attachment, covering activities from September 1, 2015 to May 10, 016, at all levels of government, according to their competences. The deadline for submission of he Addendum is September 1, 2016.

A part of Addendum Attachment titled Political Criteria is focused to an estimation of the current state of affairs in BIH in the areas of democracy, public administration reform, rule of law and combating corruption, organised crime and terrorism, as well as human and minority rights protection, regional issues and international obligations. In a part tiled Economic Criteria, a description of the situation was provided  on market economy and ability of facing with competition pressure and market forces in the Union, while a part titled  European Standards is focused to the developments in the domestic market, sector policy and justice, freedoms and security.

The Report on 2015 BIH Report Priority Realisation Action Plan contains tables showing measures for priority realisation, competent institutions - activity holders, realisation deadlines and realisation report.

 

To Set-Up Functional Single Economic Space

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted information on the first meeting of Sub-Committee for Trade, Industry, Customs and Taxation between the EU and BIH, with recommendations and operative conclusions as to freedom of movement of goods, industrial policy, SMEs, taxation and customs. The two delegations considered the issues of harmonisation of legislation and development of institutional capacities in agriculture, fishery, phytosanitary, veterinary and food safety policies.

The European Commission especially pointed to a need of establishment of a functional single economic space in BIH, which is of a key importance for the future BIH integration into the European Union internal market. BIH was urged to introduce a harmonised approach to the process of harmonisation of its regulations with the EU acquis through the country.

The competent institutions under the Council of Ministers of BIH will act in accordance with the European Commission recommendations, and will prepare and submit information required in compliance with the operative conclusions to the Directorate for European Integrations, in addition to responses to additional questions by the European Commission. The Entity, Brčko District and cantonal Governments are urged to prepare and submit required information to the Directorate of European Integrations, which will collect all relevant information and submit them to the Europe Commission.

 

Meeting of Sub-Committee for Agriculture and Fishery

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted information on the first meeting of Sub-Committee for Agriculture and Fishery between the EU and BIH, with recommendations and operative conclusions. The two delegations considered the issues of harmonisation of legislation and development of institutional capacities in agriculture, fishery, phytosanitary, veterinary and food safety policies, at their meeting held in Brussels on June 29, 2016.

 

The European commission particularly insisted on a preparation of whole-state agriculture and rural development strategy, and finding political agreement on establishment of IPARD structures, as key preconditions for use of pre-accession assistance of the European Union for agriculture and rural development.

The competent institutions under the Council of Ministers of BIH will act in accordance with the European Commission recommendations, and will prepare and submit information required in compliance with the operative conclusions to the Directorate for European Integrations, in addition to responses to additional questions by the European Commission. The Entity, Brčko District and cantonal Governments are urged to prepare and submit required information to the Directorate of European Integrations, which will collect all relevant information and submit them to the Europe Commission.

 

 

To Protect Journalists and Media Workers and Facilitate Their Work

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted Information of the Directorate for European Integrations of BIH on an expert report made following a European Commission expert evaluation mission for freedom of expression in Bosnia and Herzegovina, conducted on April 25-29, 2016.

The Council of Ministers took note of the Expert Report made following the mission, and tasked all competent institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and urged competent instructions at other levels of authority  to plan future activities aiming fulfilment and implementation of the Report-indicated recommendation.

The Export Report notes a need for more respect and protection for journalists and media workers, and it notes a necessity to facilitate their operation, in terms of providing for the

environment more conductive for their professional assignments execution.

The experts assessed the existing laws need to be implemented and exact data on claims in cases related to journalists and freedom of expression.

There is also a need to improve the implementation of the Law on Access to Information, carefully implement the Law on Vilification, and harmonise the existing pieces of legislation at different levels.

The Report emphasised an urgent need to secure independence of public broadcasters.

 

CoM Developed Regulation on Public Procurement Procedures Monitoring

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH adopted a Public Procurement Agency-drafted Regulation on public procurement procedures monitoring, in order to secure maximum effectiveness of public resources spending.

The Regulation harmonises public procurement procedures with the Law on Public Procurement, and it improves the monitoring exercise. It defines precisely competences for preparation, processing and record-keeping of monitoring data, including monitoring sources and criteria, assessed procurement value, seriousness of spotted inconsistency and prescribed procedures in such cases. The Regulation development included consideration of competent audit offices’ reports.

 

To Remove Deficiencies for Fruit and Vegetables Export to Russia

 

The Council of Ministers of BIH took note of Information on a visit of inspection bodies of the Russian Federation in connection to export of fruit and vegetables, and gave support to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, which takes activities, in cooperation with compete Entity and Brčko District institutions to remove as soon as possible the identified deficiencies.

The Russian inspectors found that Bosnia and Herzegovina has the potential to increase the volume of fruit and vegetables delivery to the Russian Federation. However, a single centralised system was found as missing of securing phytosanitary control on export of goods of high phytosanitary risk to the Russian Federation.

Taking of appropriate measures was required for the improvement of phytosanitary control system in production and preparation of products intended for export to the Russian Federation.

(end)