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European Commission’s Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU Membership Progress

The European Commission’s 2022 report on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s progress towards EU membership highlights several areas of improvement, but also notes significant challenges.

Key Progress

  • Public Procurement: The country has made some progress in aligning its legislation with the EU acquis.
  • Disaster Management: Bosnia and Herzegovina significantly improved its civil protection system and joined the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) as a full member.
  • External Relations: The country improved its alignment with EU foreign policy statements and restrictive measures, increasing to 81% by August 2022.

Limited or No Progress

  • Internal Market: Procedures and legislation that differ between the entities create obstacles to competitiveness and growth.
  • Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth: The country made limited or no progress in most areas of competitiveness and inclusive growth, including taxation, digital transformation, and social policy.
  • Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity: Further steps are needed on connectivity reform measures and aligning with the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E) Regulations.

Early Stage or Limited Preparation

  • Resources, Agriculture, and Cohesion: The country must step up its efforts to prepare and adopt post-2021 countrywide strategies for rural development, food safety, veterinary, and phytosanitary policy.
  • Economic and Monetary Policy: Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to introduce socio-economic reforms to address structural weaknesses.

Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA III)

Bosnia and Herzegovina received EUR 73 million under IPA funding in 2022, which will support the implementation of key priorities set out by the European Commission.