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SARAJEVO, March 28 (FENA) - The European Union Delegation in BiH, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Sweden in BiH and Transparency International in BiH today organized a round table 'Dialogue on the fight against corruption', which gathered representatives of the international community, institutions of BiH, civil society and the media, in order to discuss how to strengthen the focus on the fight against corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the coming period.
The "Dialogue on the fight against corruption" is organized in the light of the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union and the recently granted EU candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which opens up new possibilities for progress on the European path. Strengthening the fight against corruption is crucial for BiH's progress on the path to the EU.
The dialogue included two panels: "Improving anti-corruption policies as a prerequisite for progress" and "Implementation of anti-corruption policies and laws".
Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH, Johann Sattler, said in his address to the media "that corruption in BiH is present everywhere and is becoming more and more dominant".
“We have a lower level of corruption for services at hospitals and other health institutions, in schools, but we also have corruption at a high level. This is stealing the future of the citizens of this country and that is why we must talk about it. If we look at the recent decision on candidate status in December, it was said, 'you will get status, but we want BiH to work on fulfilling eight priorities'. Some of them are related to the fight against corruption. It is necessary to finally pass the law on conflict of interest, to adopt amendments to the law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, as well as the law on courts, which is so important for us,” said Sattler.
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Johanna Stromquist, stated that corruption is one of the challenges that this country has to deal with.
“We know that the consequences of corruption are devastating for society. This undermines society's trust in institutions, undermines democracy and discourages investment in the economy, thus hindering development. This is one of the main reasons why people leave this country. We hope that with this today we can come to a common understanding of what are the challenges related to corruption in this country, also to discuss how we can act better together and ensure that the necessary laws and strategies are adopted, but also that we have coordinated legislation across the country at all levels,” said Stromquist.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srđan Blagovčanin, says that for them, "corruption is the question of all questions and the problem of all problems".
(FENA) A. B.
