Zvizdić: If there are no political obstructions, we will finish the Questionnaire in early autumn

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Denis Zvizdić emphasized that the European Commission's Questionnaire will be completed on time if its completion is approached seriously, writes the Patria agency.

- I can responsibly state that if there are no political obstructions, we will finish the Questionnaire in early autumn. If there are obstructions, then we will not - said Zvizdić.

The Council of Ministers of BiH today adopted the Information on activities related to the translation of answers to the questions from the European Commission's Questionnaire. The Directorate for European Integration is tasked with publishing a public call for expressions of interest in implementing a part of the project "Support to the European Integration Process of Bosnia and Herzegovina", which relates to the translation of answers to the European Commission's Questionnaire, and to engage an appropriate number of candidates who meet the prescribed conditions through work contracts.

The Public Procurement Agency of BiH is tasked with preparing a proposal for an amendment to the Law on Public Procurement, in cooperation with the Directorate for European Integration, in order to include contracts for translation, proofreading, and editing of European Union legal acquis, regulations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other documents related to the accession process to the European Union and the implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, on the one hand, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other hand, in the part relating to exemptions from the application of the Law.

BiH's answers to the questionnaire will contain 25,000 to 30,000 pages of text to be translated into English, which is about twice as much as other countries had. It is estimated that at least 85 translators working intensively for two months are needed to translate 25,000 pages of text.

- Answering the European Commission's Questionnaire is the most important and largest project that a country undertakes in the pre-accession process, especially since the European Commission emphasized in the introductory part of the Questionnaire that the quality of the answers is more important than the speed of their delivery. In addition, a large number of domestic laws and regulations and other documents related to European integration will need to be translated into English, which requires a more flexible, efficient, and faster approach in this process.

The Council of Ministers of BiH was informed about the completed and current activities on the preparation of answers to the questions from the European Commission's questionnaire, which states that 33 out of a total of 36 working groups have held meetings or are in the process of preparing them, and that there is a high degree of consensus within the working groups within the coordination mechanism regarding the answers to the questions from the Questionnaire. Thus, the Working Group for Political Issues has reached an agreement on 513 out of 516 questions - it was announced from the Council of Ministers of BiH.