BiH risks losing 100 million euro to the benefit of other partners in the region unless political actors in BiH urgently finalize the Reform Agenda. The Reform Agenda has recently been agreed in an encouraging decision by the Council of Ministers. The money from the EU Growth Plan of altogether 1 billion euros for BiH is foreseen for improving infrastructures in BiH. All citizens will profit from this strong engagement of the EU.
In 2023, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia established within the Council of the European Union the informal group of the Friends of the Western Balkans. Our aim has been and still is to support and promote the full accession of the Western Balkans partners – including Bosnia and Herzegovina – into the EU. Since 2023, our countries have sent a clear message: the future of BiH lies within the Union; the reunification of the European family should be a priority, especially in a period of geopolitical turmoil. Thanks to these messages and to our joint commitment, we positioned ourselves at the forefront of those supporting BiH on its path towards European accession.
Since 2023, many results have been achieved in this field. You all know of the most important one: in March 2024, the EU decided to open accession negotiations with BiH. Now, it is crucial to maintain momentum: there is no time to lose. This is true not only with reference to the enlargement process itself, but also when it comes to the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. The Plan aims to motivate the Western Balkans partners to implement fundamental reforms on their path towards EU membership and to advance the gradual integration within the region and of the region with the EU, in areas such as finance, transport, digital connectivity and the European Single Market – benefits that every single citizen will feel. This also thanks to an increased financial assistance, amounting – just for BiH – to over 1 billion euros.
To access these funds, the Western Balkans partners must agree with the European Commission on a Reform Agenda. The idea is simple: increased funds to support reforms that will benefit the citizens and will facilitate EU integration. In the case of BiH, these reforms could trigger an unprecedented transformative effect: an improved business climate combined with greater integration with the European Single Market can really represent a game changer, and accelerate the convergence of BiH’s economic and social indicators with those of the EU Member States. To put it simply: more welfare, more investments and higher salaries.
So far, all the other Western Balkans partners have agreed their Reform Agendas. In this vein, we urge all political leaders of BiH to finalise the adoption of the country’s Reform Agenda as a matter of the utmost urgency, so that BiH can fully take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: an agreed Reform Agenda will open up the potential for over 1 billion euros in investments once reforms are delivered; and that amount will be at BiH disposal until the end of 2027.
For this reason, we welcome the unanimous political agreement reached at last Friday’s Council of Ministers: a major breakthrough towards submitting a finalized Reform Agenda and an excellent sign of progress on the European path of the country, as demanded by the vast majority of the citizens of BiH – in both Entities.
A few days ago, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos and the leaders of the six Western Balkans partners gathered in Skopje for a successful high-level meeting focused on the Growth Plan. As reminded by Commissioner Kos, in just 20 months the EU and the Western Balkans have moved from ideas to results. In a fragmented world, enlargement – including the Growth Plan – should remain a priority: for the EU and its Member States, but for the Western Balkans too. Seizing this window of opportunity is therefore crucial: only in this way, ordinary citizens and entrepreneurs will be able to start enjoying some of the benefits of full EU membership even before BiH’s formal accession. Only in this way BiH – all of BiH – will be able to pick up pace, along with the other Western Balkans partners.
Therefore, we urge for the finalized Reform Agenda to be submitted to the European Commission in the coming hours, so as to prevent BiH from losing 100 million euros (!) of its quota which will otherwise be distributed to other partners in the region. BiH has an enormous potential – a potential that so far has not been fully used. We urge therefore all political actors to pursue this common overarching goal, in the interest of the constituent peoples and the citizens of BiH.
H.E. Georg Diwald, Ambassador of the Republic of Austria,
H.E. Jana K. Lolić Šindelková, Ambassador of the Czech Republic
H.E. Ivan Sabolić, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia
H.E. Ioanna Efthymiadou, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic
H.E. Sarah Eti Castellani, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy
H.E. Roman Hlobeň, Ambassador of Slovak Republic
H.E. Damijan Sedar, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia
