News in English     | 22.05.2018. 10:45 |

BiH implemented satisfactorily none of the GRECO recommendations

FENA Fedzad Forto

STRASBOURG/SARAJEVO, May 22 (FENA) – In its newest Compliance Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding corruption prevention in respect of parliament, judges and prosecutors, the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), Council of Europe's anti-corruption monitoring body, warns that BiH has implemented satisfactorily none of the 15 recommendations contained in the Fourth Round Evaluation Report. Eleven recommendations have been partly implemented and four have not been implemented.

The Fourth Round Evaluation Report on BiH was adopted at GRECO’s 70th Plenary Meeting (30 November-4 December 2015) and made public on 22 February 2016, following authorization by Bosnia and Herzegovina (Greco Eval IV Rep (2015) 2E). GRECO’s Fourth Evaluation Round deals with “Corruption Prevention in respect of members of parliament, judges and prosecutors”. As required by GRECO's Rules of Procedure, the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted a Situation Report on measures taken to implement the recommendations.

„With respect to members of parliament, timid steps have been made by Parliament to strengthen its integrity system. A long-awaited amendment of the Code of Conduct took place in 2015 to reportedly step up enforcement and oversight mechanisms for ethical breaches, but it remains to be seen how it is indeed implemented in practice,“ it is stated in the conclusions of GRECO's newest report.

Further, much more needs to be done in terms of the provision of advisory and training opportunities on corruption prevention matters for members of Parliament.

They are of the opinion that the new proposed legislation on the prevention of conflicts of interest is a promising development, which could go a long way in meeting GRECO’s recommendations. At present, however, there is still no credible and independent mechanism to deal with conflict of interest or to check up on asset declarations by parliamentarians at State level.

„This calls for determined and priority action. It is nevertheless encouraging to see a more coordinated action being taken in the country, with Entities and Brčko District proceeding at a steady pace towards fulfillment of GRECO recommendations in this area, and thereby better promoting integrity principles in their respective legislatures,“ the conclusions read.

As far as judges and prosecutors are concerned, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council has adopted new criteria to improve prosecutors’ performance appraisals, guidelines on preventing conflicts of interest in the judiciary, guidelines on integrity plans, as well as guidelines on disciplinary sanctions. These represent worthwhile steps toward the implementation of some of the recommendations, which will need to be confirmed in practice. Many of the changes required, however, are subject to amendments to the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council.

„This process was already on-going when the Evaluation Report was adopted and it is disappointing that it has not yet been successfully completed. GRECO calls upon the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to pursue their efforts to this end with determination,“ GRECO says.

In view of the above, GRECO notes that in the present absence of final achievements, further significant material progress is necessary to demonstrate that an acceptable level of compliance with the recommendations within the next 18 months can be achieved. However, bearing in mind that several substantial reforms are underway and on the understanding that the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities will further pursue their efforts, GRECO concludes that the current low level of compliance with the recommendations is not “globally unsatisfactory” in the meaning of Rule 31, paragraph 8.3 of GRECO’s Rules of Procedure.

GRECO invites the Head of the delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to submit additional information regarding the implementation of all recommendations by 30 September 2019.

Finally, GRECO invites the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to authorize, as soon as possible, the publication of the report, to translate it into the national language and to make this translation public.

(FENA)
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