Miljević for Patria: New Croatian Government did more in 100 days than BiH authorities in 18 months

Centres for Civic Initiatives (CCI) presented a comprehensive report "State of the Nation" which provides a precise overview of the effects of reforms in BiH in the last 18 months, i.e. since the beginning of the adoption of the Reform Agenda. The effects were presented by areas: public finances, business climate and competitiveness, labor market, social and pension policy, public administration and rule of law.

The report shows that the implementation of the Reform Agenda in BiH is slow and selective, due to political instability and blockades, and in most areas still does not yield the expected results.

The Reform Agenda is a programmatic document, a package of priorities, a package of reforms that the Council of Ministers of BiH, the Government of FBiH, the Government of RS, cantonal governments, and the Government of Brčko District committed to 18 months ago. The fulfillment of these reforms in BiH is important if the country wants to become a member of the European Union and raise the standard of its citizens.

The CCI report states that only 46 measures have been realized from the adoption of the Reform Agenda to date, which is devastating. Statistically speaking, the CCI report states, BiH institutions, primarily the Council of Ministers, have the best implementation of their own Action Plan, but also the smallest number of measures. The Action Plan of the Government of RS, considering the total number of measures in the plan and the number of adopted measures, has been implemented to the greatest extent, while the Action Plan at the FBiH level has been implemented to the least extent.

It is mentioned that in 18 months, BiH institutions have implemented 52 percent of the measures from the Reform Agenda, the Government of RS 51 percent, and the Government of FBiH only 36 percent of the total measures.

Economic analyst Damir Miljević says in a comment for the Patria news agency that these percentages do not mean much in themselves, considering which parts of the Reform Agenda have been fulfilled.

- It means nothing if you have fulfilled 33 things that do not mean much to citizens. Perhaps it would have been better if we had implemented fewer measures, but ones that are more important for people's lives, such as the rule of law on the one hand, and on the other hand, the relief of the economy. Unfortunately, nothing has been done in that regard - says Miljević.

- When you look at the entire Reform Agenda on the one hand, and the time that has passed on the other, you see that it is actually a relatively empty story, where you have no sense of urgency. For comparison, the new Croatian government reformed the entire system of direct and indirect taxes in 100 days, and established 143 measures to relieve the economy in terms of non-fiscal barriers. After 18 months, we don't even have a register of parafiscal burdens - says analyst Miljević. He believes that the Reform Agenda actually reflects the authorities' attitude towards reforms in the country very well, writes Patria.