EU-BIH

The third EU-BiH Structured Dialogue on Justice plenary meeting was opened today in Mostar, under the co-chairmanship of the BiH Ministry of Security Secretary, Mr. Bakir Dautbasic and Director at the European Commission, Mr. Pierre Mirel.

The Delegation of BiH was composed of over forty representatives from all judicial institutions and authorities, who have constructively engaged on the revision of progress for the various reforms that are necessary to further align judiciary in BiH with the relevant EU acquis and standards. The morning session was focused on issues related to war crimes processing; important update were received on the pace of the referral of investigations from the State level to other instances throughout BiH, as well as on the working plan of the BiH Prosecutor's office to process the current backlog of war crimes investigations.

The Delegation of the EU to the Dialogue regrets that no progress has yet been achieved on the conclusion of a protocol for the exchange and information and evidence between the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and the War Crimes Prosecutors of Serbia.

In the afternoon, the dialogue addressed issues related to future IPA assistance in the justice sector, as well as perspective institutional development through the establishment of an appellate court at the state level, contextual to the clarification of competencies. The second day will be devoted to legislative initiatives and issues related to the management of human, financial and infrastructural resources.