site.btaBosnia and Herzegovina Adopts New Reform Programme Linked to NATO Path

The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, acting on a proposal from the Commission for Cooperation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with NATO, unanimously adopted a Reform Programme for the country (a planning and reporting tool on progress towards NATO membership), which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will present at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, said the Bosnian internet portal Klix.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a NATO member but has been part of the Alliance’s Partnership for Peace Programme since 2006, and in 2010 received an invitation to take part in the Membership Action Plan (MAP). The process has been developing at varying speed because of the country’s complex institutional structure and divergent political positions on the issue, the portal noted.

Under the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia (1992-1995), the country is divided into two semi-autonomous parts: Republika Srpska, populated mainly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats live. Each part has its own government, parliament and police, but the two are linked through joint state-level institutions, including the judicial system, the army, security services and tax administration. The Dayton Agreement also sets out the role of the High Representative of the international community, who has broad powers, including the ability to impose laws and dismiss officials.

The adoption of the Reform Programme aims to provide conditions for the continued work of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the obligations arising from participation in NATO’s Partnership for Peace Programme. Presenting such a Reform Programme each year is an obligation for Bosnia and Herzegovina on its path towards NATO membership, Klix reported.

Within the MAP framework, Bosnia and Herzegovina prepares and presents Reform Programmes, which do not constitute an automatic commitment to membership but serve as a tool for planning and reporting progress, Bosnian media noted. The documents cover political, economic, defence and legal issues, as well as security-related aspects. Relations with NATO are among the priorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s foreign policy and are being developed through various forms of cooperation aimed at strengthening the country’s security and institutional capacity.