| Europe
for BiH No
6, February
1999: page 1 | page 2 | page
3 | page 4
In this issue:
BiH
State institutions on the move
Setting up a professional civil
service
The Bosnian
state's common institutions are essential to the success of Bosnia
and Herzegovina's existence as a single state. But they are not yet
working as well as they should. The European Commission is doing all
it can to breathe life into them under its institution-building
policy. Reform of public administration is one of the European
Commission's priorities for 1999 in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The EU/BiH
consultative task force* will soon address this issue.
Since November 1997,
the Commission has been represented via its experts in all the
central institutions set up by the Dayton accords which ended
Bosnia's 1992-1995 war. So far, the common state institutions have
worked very weakly when compared with administrations in the two
Bosnian entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Republika Srpska. Under the European Commission's Phare programme a
team of European experts has, therefore, been entrusted with the
task of instilling a new dynamism into the central institutions to
help them face up to the responsibilities conferred on them by the
Dayton Agreements.
Through its experts
the Commission is today present in all of Bosnia and Herzegovina's
central institutions the Presidency, the Parliamentary Assembly,
the Council of Ministers (COM) and the three line ministries --
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic
Relations, Ministry of Civil Affairs and Communications). There are
also separate technical assistance projects for the Constitutional
Court and the Central Bank.
The first task faced
by the European Commission-appointed experts is to establish
personal trust and confidence with the civil servants working in
State institutions. The European experts' role is strictly limited:
they are not to be involved in policy-making, nor are they there to
impose policies on the Bosnians. But they have the specific task to
help get the machinery of the state institutions up and running
smoothly, to help them to make their own policy. The experts work at
a technical level, helping the Bosnians build up their own
decision-making procedures, the "bread and butter" issues
of the institutions. "The overall aim is to establish a
professional 'merit based' civil service" says Morgan Mc Swiney,
European Commission task manager in Sarajevo. "Basic procedures
which are taken for granted in European administrations, like
standardised formats for presentation to ministers for instance,
have to be introduced in the Bosnian administration. Rules of
procedure have to be established as well".
What the Commission
would like to see is the common institutions working closer
together, through uniform, modern procedures. This is the process
the seven long-term EU experts are trying to help. Their aim is to
gradually integrate the staff of the institutions concerned so that
the latter benefit to the greatest extent from their advice. One
expert has been appointed to each of the State institutions
(Presidency, Parliamentary Assembly, CoM, 3 line Ministries). Daniel
Dobrovoljec, the project manager, coordinates the team's activities
and identifies any horizontal problems faced by all the institutions
concerned.
Need for a civil service law
"To give an
example, all the institutions together need a law on public
administration," explained Daniel Dobrovoljec, who was the G-24
coordinator in Lithuania before taking up his duties in Sarajevo.
"We also have to
push forward the discussion on parity, which should not become a
paralysing factor for the institutions of Bosnia and
Herzegovina," he says. The common institutions are based on a
strict system of parity between the Serb, Croat and Bosniak
communities, a constant risk of blocking procedures.
To cite but one
example: the parity issue has recently left the Foreign Affairs
Ministry in disarray. Ninety Bosniaks had to go in order to be
replaced by Croats and Serbs, given the fact that the total number
of employees had to remain the same. This raises questions on
recruitment criteria, the minimum and common qualifications for
civil servants These are all issues that will have to be addressed
in a civil service law.
"We are still at
the moment perceived as an external body" says Tullio Morganti,
the expert appointed to the Council of Ministers who previously
worked in Slovenia, Poland and Estonia to coordinate foreign
assistance there. "The challenge is now to convince our
partners that we are part of the team. This can only be achieved by
gathering their views and getting the job done, respectful of their
priorities." According to Tullio Morganti, the Council of
Ministers is at the present time not living up to its mandate. It
only works when it comes to basic routine services like internal
administration, preparation of agendas and financial management.
"The system is self-exhausting and works in a closed circuit.
Dayton did not get into the details of the role and responsibilities
of the CoM" adds Morganti. In his opinion, "Further
elaboration on its role is needed, because there is no real
decision-making at the level of the CoM. It is at the moment just a
debating chamber at a technical level on the policies defined by the
Presidency."
As far as the
Parliamentary Assembly is concerned, it suffers not only from the
common political problems, but also from a severe lack of resources:
poor situation in terms of premises, number of employees and lack of
equipment. According to Fernando Santaolalla, the expert appointed
to this institution, a big effort should be made in order to meet
the minimum organisational standards in Western European
Parliaments. This achievement is a precondition for Bosnia and
Herzegovina to live up to deeper and stronger democratic political
life. "A professional parliamentary administration and a set of
clear and flexible internal rules are necessary for the parliament
as a way to solve the political differences" he says.
"We want the
institutions to consider themselves as our clients to whom we offer
specialised advice and coaching" says Gines Lopez-Oliver,
appointed to the Presidency. "There is a consistent set of
common problems in top political institutions of democratic regimes
all over the world. Leaders and strategies can be consumed if the
organisation is not there" he says. "Besides the cross-sectoral
and international expertise in place, we also have colleagues on
call for short term support". To give one high-profile example,
under this EC-funded project, former French Prime Minister Michel
Rocard is prepared to address how to reconcile the domestic and the
international agenda of the Presidency.
The Bosnian state's
common institutions cannot be considered in isolation from the
entities' institutions. But the dynamics between the two have to be
managed so as to strengthen their interdependence and interaction.
* The EU/BiH
consultative task force (CTF) was established by the Council of the
European Union in Luxembourg in June 1998. The CTF is an informal
working body at expert level with the aim of helping BiH to become a
fully-functioning State and to meet some of the technical
prerequisites for closer cooperation with the European Union.
Rule
of law
Strengthening the Constitutional
Court
Bosnia and
Herzegovina's Constitutional Court, the only judiciary at central
state level, started working in 1997. The Court holds a potentially
crucial role in strengthening Bosnia and Herzegovina's common
institutions.
Yet since the
adoption of its standing regulations only several second-rank
decisions have been delivered. In October 1998 the Court started
examining a case of key importance : the compatibility of the two
entities' constitutions (Federation and Republika Srpska) with
Bosnia and Herzegovina's state constitution. The Court could give
Bosnia and Herzegovina a much needed move towards more unity.
Bosnia's
Constitutional Court was established by the Dayton Peace Agreement
which ended the1992-95 war. It is a state institution, made up of
nine judges of whom six are national judges two Bosniaks, two
Croats and two Serbs. The other three are foreign judges nominated
by the Council of Europe and drawn from France, Austria and Sweden.
The judges are assisted by a Secretary General and seven legal
counsellors.
The European
Commission is represented in the Constitutional Court by its expert
charged with a three-pronged mission: training judges and legal
counsellors, providing equipment and technical assistance. "In
order to show Bosnian judges and counsellors what the concept of
rule of law really means, I try to give them a maximum of
opportunities to meet their European counterparts," explains
Nicolas Maziau, a French expert in charge of technical assistance to
the Court. In April, for example, a training mission is planned for
Bosnian judges and counsellors to the "Cour d'Arbitrage"
in Brussels. They will in this way be able to learn not only how a
Belgian court works, but also watch how competence disputes between
the state, communities and regions of the federal state are
addressed.
Independence and partiality
"In common with
the other institutions of the Central State, Bosnia's Constitutional
Court is faced with many problems," explains Nicolas Maziau. He
cites the prospect of paralysis due to a strict need for parity
between the three communities, an inadequate operating budget and
problems with regard to independence and partiality.
"The judges have
to make their judgments with a clear conscience and free of all
political pressure, something which is extremely difficult to
achieve in the current political context," he says.
According to the PIC
Madrid Declaration of December 1998, reform of the judiciary is one
of the top priorities in 1999. The European Commission will
concentrate its help on the Constitutional Court, which has a key
role to play in strengthening the Bosnian state. The functioning of
the Constitutional Court will also be addressed by the EU/BIH
consultative task force.*
The Court will have
more and more sensitive political questions to face in the course of
the application of the Dayton accords. For example, it is now
dealing with the question of constituent peoples. The state
constitution refers to three constituent peoples, while the
Federation's constitution refers to only two and that of the
Republika Srpska refers to only one.
Another sensitive
question being dealt with by the Constitutional Court are the
Entities competent to sign treaties ? With this in mind, the Court
is at the moment examining the constitutionality of the Treaty
signed by Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on
customs policy and trade.
EC assistance to BiH in 1998
(Phare and Obnova programmes only)
allocations in millions of euro
Sector 1998 allocation (CE)
I. Dayton support / Institution
Building 13,90
II. Economic development 31,96
III. Integrated assistance activities
to encourage refugee return 112,35
IV. Essential Infrastructures 15,31
V. Civil society 1,89
Carry over (ongoing) 15,05
TOTAL = 190,46
These figures do not include the EC's
humanitarian aid projects. In 1998, ECHO (European Community
Humanitarian Office) allocated 88 million EURO to projects in BiH.
- European Commission Representation
Office to BiH
- Union Bank Building, 4th floor
- Dubrovacka 6
- Sarajevo - Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Tel +387 71 666 036
- Fax + 387 71 666 037
The European Union on the Internet: http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/index.htm
This publication is available in
English and Bosnian (Latin and Cyrillic alphabets). If you are
interested in receiving this newsletter, please fax your request to
Mediaplan in Sarajevo (fax: +387 71 206 542) or Strat&Com in
Brussels (fax: +32 2 649 18 85).
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