Bosnia and Herzegovina to receive EUR 165.8 million from IPA II funds by 2017

The Council of Ministers of BiH at today's session adopted the Information on the final version of the Indicative Strategic Document for IPA II for Bosnia and Herzegovina (2014-2017), which defines the priorities of EU financial assistance to support BiH on its accession path, reports the Patria News Agency.

The Directorate for European Integration was tasked to, in cooperation with competent institutions in BiH, continue coordinating the process related to the use of IPA II in BiH in accordance with the process dynamics and the European Commission's guidelines.

The sectors included in the Indicative Strategic Document for potential IPA II support are: Democracy and Governance, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, Competitiveness and Innovation - Local Development Strategies, and Education, Employment and Social Policies.

The total indicative amount of funds allocated for Bosnia and Herzegovina within IPA II by 2017 has been reduced and amounts to EUR 165.8 million. Indicative annual allocations for the state program for BiH for 2014 and 2015 amount to EUR 39.7 million each, for 2016 it amounts to EUR 42.3 million, and for 2017 it is EUR 43.7 million.

The reason for the reduction of IPA funds is BiH's stagnation on the path of European integration, the absence of a coordination mechanism, and the lack of certain strategic documents, as the new approach is to focus assistance on sectors where sectoral strategies and sufficient sectoral coordination exist.

The Indicative Strategic Document will be revised in 2017, when a revision of all IPA II strategic documents for all beneficiary countries is planned, but in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it can be revised earlier at the initiative of the European Commission, it was announced from the Council of Ministers of BiH.