Emergency session on 15 October: Is there a European path without the Reform Agenda, MPs demand answers from the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina

(Patria) - Three sessions of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been scheduled for 15 October, two of which are emergency and one regular.

The first emergency session that day is expected to consider the Budget of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and International Obligations for 2025, while the second emergency session has only one item on the agenda: "Continuation of the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina with a focus on adopting the Reform Programme for the implementation of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans," proposed by MPs Jasmin Emrić, Šemsudin Mehmedović, Elvisa Hodžić, Aida Baručija, and Nihad Omerović.

The Reform Agenda has still not been adopted, and if it is not adopted by 30 September, Bosnia and Herzegovina will lose an additional 108 million euros. This will be the second reduction from the Growth Plan tranche, and the funds will be redirected to other Western Balkan countries. An attempt to adopt it was also made on Thursday, 25 September, but ministers from the SNSD did not vote at all, meaning there was no quorum for that session. The Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, announced a new attempt before the regular session on 1 October.

In the explanation of the initiative, the MPs stated that the scheduling of the emergency session was also a request from the Initiative for Monitoring EU Integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"It has been proposed to convene an emergency session of the House of Representatives to discuss the continuation of the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a focus on adopting the Reform Programme within the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans and the consequences that its non-adoption produces for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is devastating and unacceptable that in July of this year, due to the non-adoption and non-submission of the Reform Plan for the implementation of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Commission, the funds from the Reform and Growth Instrument planned for Bosnia and Herzegovina were reduced by 10 percent, i.e., 108.5 million euros.

The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, even at its 88th session, held on 17 September 2025, did not harmonise and adopt the Reform Plan for the implementation of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which must be submitted to the European Commission by 30 September of this year to avoid another reduction of the allocation of funds from the Reform and Growth Instrument for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the amount of 10%.

In order for the House of Representatives to receive information on the reasons for the non-adoption, and to finally become acquainted with this important document for the European path, we consider it justified and necessary to convene an emergency session," the initiative states.

The MPs requested that the session be attended by the Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, all members of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Director of the Directorate for European Integration.

It was also requested that the MPs be provided with the Information on the implementation of activities on harmonising the Reform Plan, along with the harmonised version of the Reform Plan in the Bosnian language and the accompanying Indicative List of Investment Projects.