SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 20 (SeeNews) – The European Commission has adopted the Annual Action Programme for Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which it is allocating 60.3 million euro ($71.4 million) to support the country on its European integration path.
The programme confirms the enlargement ‘fundamentals first’ principle, focusing on the sectors of rule of law and fundamental rights, democracy and governance and, for the first time under IPA II, transport, the EU Delegation to Bosnia said in a statement on Tuesday.
The programme will continue with the EU’s support towards an efficient and responsible public administration and public financial management reform, aimed at making the public sector capable of delivering better services to citizens and of contributing to the EU integration process.
It will also further improve the institutional and human capacities of the judiciary and law enforcement agencies, including access to justice and the fight against corruption.
Finally, the extension of support to the transport sector will contribute to ensuring closer integration between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU through the preparation of future transport projects.
In December last year, Bosnia officially received the European Commission's questionnaire, based on which the EU will decide whether the country is ready to join the bloc. Earlier this month, however, EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn warned that Bosnia has shown little progress.
($=0.843850 euro)