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MOSTAR, April 29 (FENA) - President of the HDZ BiH and Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dragan Čović met with the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH Johann Sattler on Wednesday to discuss accelerating the European path of the country, the coronavirus pandemic, jumpstarting the economy and local election activities.
Čović thanked the EU and Sattler for all the efforts they invest to make BiH part of integration processes and Europe itself, "even though we are still far from the formal steps that await us."
"We are involved in all the activities related to European funds and all the activities undertaken by the EU when it comes to assisting the countries of the Western Balkans. BiH has its own place there and I am glad that we will continue to do so through the structure of the talks that will be established next week at a video conference of Zagreb Summit," said Čović.
Speaking about the circumstances surrounding the local elections, he stressed that it was necessary to review everything and see if all the preconditions for holding the elections would be met.
"It is our opinion that if there is no prerequisite for organizing fully transparent and lawful elections, we should think about what to do in this case, that is if something like that happens and we have to reconsider it, then how can we find a solution for Mostar since the city has not had its election process in a long time," Čović pointed out.
Speaking about the upcoming local elections and holding the elections in Mostar, Sattler stressed that it was the first of 14 key priorities from the European Commission's Opinion.
"I took the opportunity to encourage Čović to continue to work hard to find political solutions that would allow the elections to be held. The right place for harmonization and agreement is certainly the Parliament itself, however, there is also the judgment of the Human Rights Court which provides that in the event that no solution is found through the Parliament, the Constitutional Court will be the one to decide how to hold the elections. My preference is for the solution to come through the Parliament, through the regular legislature," Sattler said.
Speaking about the coronavirus pandemic, he said that he has also handed over some of the equipment to the HNC Prime Minister Nevenka Herceg today, adding that it was another indication that the EU stands with the citizens of BiH. He also talked with Čović about mitigating the effects of the pandemic on the economy.
"We talked about saving lives, but also the economy, the jobs themselves, and how to help businesses and make sure they survive. In that context, the EU has provided over EUR 70 million in grants to small and medium-sized enterprises, and a significant proportion of such businesses operate in Herzegovina in the tourism sector.
The other part of the financial assistance is the amount of over EUR 250 million of macro-financial assistance provided by the EU to BiH. This should be support for the budget. This will be a very important element of overall assistance and support because of the inevitable budget deficits," Sattler said.
He recalled that an agreement was reached yesterday at the BiH Presidency that should enable important steps on the European path of BiH, and said that the process should definitely move faster.
"The process is envisaged to involve as many stakeholders as possible from as wide a spectrum as possible. I think this is perhaps the most significant contribution that can be made in light of the upcoming Zagreb Summit, that it allows BiH to come to Zagreb next Wednesday, ready with one specific proposal and action plan for the next two and a half years, which is extremely important,” Sattler said.
He added that the vast majority of citizens wanted to see BiH as a member of the European Union, and urged local politicians, young people and civil society organizations to become more involved and work in this direction.
(FENA) S. R.
