The National Assembly organized opening ceremony of a new twinning project supported by the EU

Date: 
23.05.2017 - 16:00

The National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska organized opening ceremony of the twinning project "Support to the administrative structures for EU integration related tasks of the parliaments in BiH".

The ceremony, which during the opening speech opened the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska Nedeljko Čubrilović, was attended by Christian Danielsson, Director General for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations European Commission, Lars Gunnar Vigemark, Head of EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative in BiH, Zoltan Horvat, the project leader, Mark K. Aćić, Secretary General of the National Assembly, Branislav Borenović, chairman of the Committee on European integrations and regional cooperation of the National Assembly and representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly BiH, the Parliament of the Federation of BiH and Brčko District.

President Čubrilović thanked the representatives of the European Union and Parliament of Hungary, the holder of the project, for deciding to support this project which aims to strengthen the capacity of parliaments in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Čubrilović said that the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska unanimously adopted a statement to meet the agenda on the path to EU integration.

He pointed out that the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina geographically belong to Europe.

Our political commitment is to become a full member of the European Union. It depends on our ability to accept European standards, but also depends on the European Union itself, which has to decide when to accept the membership and other countries in the Balkans," said Čubrilović.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, concluded Čubrilović, will continue to have a positive approach to the process of European integration, by enacting reform laws and creating the preconditions for more effective association with the parliaments of the regions in the countries that are members of the European Union.

Director-General for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations European Commission Christian Danielsson said that the project aims at strengthening the parliamentary capacity in Bosnia and Herzegovina and acceleration the European path of the country.

"The project builds the capacity of parliaments for mutual coordinating on all important issues that will arise during the harmonization of legislation," said Danielsson, noting that legislative bodies have an important role on the European path.

He said that the next steps are reform of public administration, strengthening the rule of law, fight against corruption and other parts of the Reform Agenda.
"This will not only accelerate Bosnia and Herzegovina's European path, but sends an important positive signal for attracting investments that are important for further economic growth and jobs," said Danielsson.
He pointed out that the adoption of a set of laws on excise duties is essential for ensuring investment in infrastructure which is an important part of the reform agenda.