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SARAJEVO, February 14 (FENA) - The European Union has secured funds for three new anti-corruption projects in the amount of nearly EUR 3.5 million from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), as part of ongoing EU support to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the area of rule of law.
The corruption perception index has been in decline since 2012 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and according to the latest data, the country is ranked 89th out of 180 countries involved in the corruption survey.
The intent of these projects, among other things, is to provide assistance in the harmonization of anti-corruption legislation, improve the cooperation of the civil sector and institutions, and involve the private sector in the methodology of combating corruption, but also to involve citizens in reporting corruption.
Also, as it was announced today at the press conference in Sarajevo, the awards will be presented as well, which the organizers hope would become a traditional thing, to contribute to the fight against corruption.
Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to BiH, Richard Máša, explained that the funds have been secured under the IPA funds, and by 2021, anti-corruption experts will implement 74 complex activities through these three projects.
He reminded that there are 14 anti-corruption bodies in BiH that will receive strategic, operational and legal support through one of the projects entitled "Institutional Support to Anti-Corruption – IPAK".
Project Leader and Senior Expert in Fight against Corruption, Zoran Jachev noted that the projects intend to improve the strategy of fighting corruption at all levels in BiH, but also monitor the implementation of anti-corruption measures and strategies.
“We will deal with the establishment or improvement of the system for reporting corruption in BiH at all levels. We will work on the preventive aspect and to establish the current ethical infrastructure in the institutions,” he explained.
The second project is titled "EU4Justice - Support for the Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime", worth EUR 2.2 million, and will be implemented in cooperation with the French organization Justice International Cooperation (JCI).
Its aim is to strengthen the effectiveness of the investigation and prosecution of serious cases of corruption and organized crime through intensifying criminal justice cooperation that is, providing support to the police and the judiciary in a joint fight against this phenomenon.
Head of this project, a French prosecutor specializing in serious crime, Isabelle Arnal, stressed the importance of forming multidisciplinary teams composed of police, judges, prosecutors and other law enforcement agencies.
The third project titled "EU Support against Corruption in BiH", worth EUR 500,000, and will be implemented by Transparency International, with the aim of identifying certain corruptive practices in the health sector in BiH.
Project Coordinator of Transparency International BiH, Emsad Dizdarević identified several risk areas in healthcare, such as public procurement, conflict of interest, human resources management and financial management, and a long waiting list for specialist examinations.
He added that it is necessary to systematically regulate relations between public institutions and private practices, employment without public vacancies. Healthcare institutions are big consumers of public funds therefore, it is necessary to work on a higher level of reporting on expenditures and to develop software for transparent waiting lists.
This project will involve 15 healthcare institutions that will be able to apply through a public call, but the intention is to establish a system that could be applied in all healthcare institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As it has been concluded today, the implementation of all these measures and their successful future implementation will primarily depend on political will or the will of decision-makers. As the participants of the project concluded, this has so far proved to be an essential element for a successful fight against corruption.
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(FENA) S. R.
