EU urges BiH to implement economic projects

EU urges BiH to implement economic projects

Officials say EU-funded initiatives will foster economic growth and anti-corruption efforts.

The EU is urging BiH to fulfil three initiatives in order to enforce social and economic stability in the country.

These initiatives, summarised in the conclusions of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in April, should be implemented despite the devastation caused by flooding in the region in May, said EU Special Representative in BiH spokesman Andy McGuffie.

The initiatives require the country to use EU assistance to prepare a national economic reform programme, form a joint EU-BiH working group to accelerate the implementation of Union-funded projects, and establish a structured dialogue on justice to expand anti-corruption efforts.

The EU requires the country to implement the projects, which will require politicians to accept EU assistance and begin the initiatives.

McGuffie said the effort is part of the EU's overall initiatives aimed at helping BiH's economic governance, strengthening competitiveness as well as stimulating economic growth.

"We will be asking the competent authorities and civil society to engage with us, well before the elections in October, in the development and implementation of concrete economic structural reforms that would begin to reinvigorate the economy and spur the creation of jobs," McGuffie said.

According to EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, civil society will be involved in all of the initiatives, and will hopefully push politicians to co-operate with the civil sector.

McGuffie said the European Commission will focus on better economic governance in all countries in the region, and BiH should be one of the first...