Substantial Change on the Horizon? A Monitoring Report on the EU’s New Bosnia and Herzegovina Initiative
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Table of contents
Executiev Summary ........................................................................................................................ I
I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1
II. STEPS UNDERTAKEN WITHIN THE EU-INITIATIVE ......................................................................... 4
Step 1: Written Commitment – SAA enactment ............................................................................... 4
Reform Agenda compilation ...........................................................................................................5
Step 2: Non-credible membership application by self-invitation .....................................................6
Towards Step 3: Commissioner Hahn’s March 2016 conditions, Brussels deadline(s)...................... 8
Condition One: Reform Agenda implementation progress .............................................................. 8
Condition Two: Adaptation of the SAA Trade Agreement – unity in surrender ................................. 9
Condition Three: The coordination mechanism .............................................................................. 11
The “non-condition”: publication of the 2013 census results ......................................................... 13
Step 3: The GAC September 20, 2016 decision .............................................................................. 16
III. ANALYSIS OF REFORM AGENDA-RELATED REFORMS UNDERTAKEN SO FAR ................................ 17
Labor market: The new entity labor laws ....................................................................................... 18
Business climate and competitiveness ........................................................................................... 20
State-owned enterprises ............................................................................................................... 22
Public finance, taxation and fiscal sustainability ............................................................................ 22
Pension, health care and social welfare reform .............................................................................. 24
Public administration reform ......................................................................................................... 25
Rule of law .................................................................................................................................... 26
“Selected functionality question” ................................................................................................... 28
General assessment ...................................................................................................................... 28
IV. THE OPERATIONAL MECHANICS ............................................................................................... 29
The EU’s relationship with domestic authorities ............................................................................ 29
EU internal operations .................................................................................................................. 29
The role of member states ............................................................................................................ 30
The role of non-EU actors – the US................................................................................................ 30
Division of work between the EU and IFIs (World Bank, IMF) .......................................................... 31
Lack of transparency: the role of parliaments, civil society and citizens ........................................ 33
V. CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................... 34