Voorzitter CvdR Bresso: Bosnië-Herzegovina onderweg naar EU-lidmaatschap (en)
During a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina where she met with representatives of the country's authorities (20-23 May), the President of the EU i Committee of the Regions (CoR), Mercedes Bresso, reaffirmed the CoR commitment, alongside the other European institutions and the Bosnian authorities, to ensuring that accession can be secured in the near future. Together with Stefano Sannino, Director-General of the European Commission's Enlargement DG, she called for strengthened coordination mechanisms between all levels of government and stronger cohesion so as to successfully prepare the way to EU membership.
Mercedes Bresso and Stefano Sannino met with political leaders in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar, as well as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Vjekoslav Bevanda, to discuss key EU integration issues and the role played by the regions within the EU. Throughout these meetings, clear messages emerged about a common willingness to cooperate among the political entities and to further develop local democracy, an issue which is also of particular importance given the political debates currently taking place in BiH in the run-up to the municipal elections to be organised in October.
Membership to the EU, development of functional state institutions and balanced decentralisation of powers in BiH were also the main focus of the meeting of the CoR Working Group on the Western Balkans that took place today in Sarajevo. Jointly organised by the CoR and the Canton of Sarajevo under chairmanship of Franz Schausberger (AT/EPP), representative of the Land of Salzburg in the CoR, the meeting gave mayors and local politicians both from BiH and the EU Member States the opportunity to exchange their experiences. Recent developments in BiH in the context of the EU integration process were also discussed by Fikret Musić, Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton, and Peter Sørensen, EU Special Representative in BiH.
In her statement at the opening of the meeting, Mercedes Bresso insisted on the role of local development and territorial cooperation under the umbrella of strong state authorities: "Locally elected representatives are the best allies of national political leaders when it comes to explaining both the benefits and the duties inherent in EU membership and identifying solutions, in a spirit of cohesion for the whole country. It is vital that we press ahead with enlargement so that the Balkan countries, together with the EU, can benefit from the transformative power that it brings to their societies and their economies." Bresso took this opportunity to announce the possibility of shortly setting up a joint consultative committee between the CoR and BiH in order to step up cooperation between regional and local representatives from BiH and the EU.
The CoR President also pointed out those instruments linking national and local levels in the enlargement process and which, following a bottom-up process, can help bringing the country into line with the EU legislation, such as:
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-the "Covenant of Mayors" for renewable energy whereby many BiH cities have voluntarily committed to increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy on their territories;
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-the "Local Administration Facility" programme to help local authorities from candidate countries and potential candidate countries understand how the EU works and help them prepare for accession. Local and regional representatives and experts from BiH have played an active part in these study visits, and the CoR will continue to work to strengthen BiH local authorities' administrative capacity within this framework;
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-President Bresso also insisted on the need for BiH authorities to make progress as regards the NUTS classification (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) to allow for a coherent statistical representation of the regions, measure development gaps and thus allocate funding according to needs in a fair way.
Further information:
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-Opening address by Mercedes Bresso - 11th Meeting of the Western Balkans Working Group, Sarajevo, 22 May 2012
Visit the CoR's website: www.cor.europa.eu
The Committee of the Regions
The Committee of the Regions is the EU's assembly of regional and local representatives. The mission of its 344 members from all 27 EU Member States is to involve regional and local authorities and the communities they represent in the EU's decision-making process and to inform them about EU policies. The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council are obliged to consult the Committee in policy areas affecting regions and cities. It can appeal to the EU Court of Justice if its rights are infringed or it believes that an EU law violates the subsidiarity principle or fails to respect regional or local powers.
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