Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopts 2024 Reform Programme, to be submitted to NATO

(Patria) - The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the 2024 Reform Programme of BiH, proposed by the Commission for Cooperation with NATO, which will be submitted to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

This enables the continuous work of BiH institutions in identifying priorities and implementing obligations arising from BiH's participation in the NATO "Partnership for Peace" programme.

The Reform Programme contains five chapters and covers political and economic, defence and military issues, as well as resource, security, and legal issues.

Recall, the Reform Programme was also adopted in 2023, and its adoption and submission to Brussels is one of the obligations BiH has towards NATO within the MAP programme.

For clarification, MAP (Membership Action Plan) is a NATO programme that helps aspiring countries prepare for membership. It is not a guarantee that a country will become a member, but serves as a framework for reforms in the areas of defence, politics, economy, security and legislation.

BiH received an invitation for MAP in 2010, but could not activate the programme due to internal disagreements, primarily related to the registration of military property.

On the other hand, ANP (Annual National Programme) is a document that a country submits to NATO within the MAP framework, presenting planned reforms in the defence sector and other areas.

In BiH, the ANP became a political issue – while Bosniak and Croat parties were in favour of its submission, Serb parties (especially SNSD) opposed it, considering it a step towards membership.

A compromise solution in 2019 was the Reform Programme, a milder version of the ANP, but allowing cooperation with NATO without a formal step towards membership.

In short, MAP is a broader framework for membership preparation, while ANP is a technical document within MAP. Currently, BiH is formally in the MAP process, but through the "Reform Programme", which is tailored to internal political consensus.

The Reform Programme was last sent in 2022, then for 2021 and 2022.