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SARAJEVO, June 16 (FENA) - The first meeting of the Stabilization and Association Parliamentary Committee between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina after BiH received the status of a candidate country for EU membership was held today, and political and economic criteria were discussed.
Assistant Director of the Directorate for European Integration Darija Ramljak told FENA that the meeting is held symbolically on the day when the Stabilization and Association Agreement was signed 15 years ago.
The focus of the discussion was on the realization of 14 key priorities from the Opinion of the European Commission on BiH's membership in the EU, and Ramljak points out that they noted at the meeting that some progress has been made in the realization of these priorities since the last meeting of the Committee.
"Accelerated activities have also been recorded in the last six months. The House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the amendments to the Law on Ombudsmen for Human Rights in the first reading, which is related to priority number 10," said Ramljak.
The BiH Council of Ministers adopted several significant acts, including amendments to the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) and the Draft Law on Freedom of Access to Information, as well as several strategies and action plans.
Ramljak says that important steps have been taken to realize 14 key priorities, and some of them concern the fight against organized crime, border management, progress in the field of public administration and public financial management.
The representatives of the European Union were interested in when the laws referred to the parliamentary procedure could be adopted so that the progress made could be valorized in the upcoming autumn annual report on the progress of BiH, which is the central point of evaluating the country in the process of European integration within the framework of the enlargement strategy.
After each meeting of the Committee, the European Commission submits recommendations to the Council of Ministers, which entrusts all state authorities with recommendations to implement them, and on a similar principle, recommendations are also submitted to the entity and cantonal coordinators.
Along with Ramljak, today's meeting was chaired by Vassilis Maragos from the European Commission. The Stabilization and Association Parliamentary Committee is one of the joint bodies of the EU and BiH established under the Stabilization and Association Agreement to monitor its implementation.
(FENA) A. B.
