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Daily e-newspaper • N° 2625 • Sarajevo, October 14, 2011 TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL Step Backward in Fight against Corruption Apart from pointing out the lack of progress in the fight against corruption, European Commission's Progress Report also emphasizes the lack of political will to solve problems that BiH faces his results in failure to implement confirmed, since the Report as well actions in prosecuting the worst forms of Tlaws and inefficiency of the judici- states the necessity of more clearly political corruption, there is great danger ary in the prosecution of corruption, said defined regulations and stricter penalties that it could come to a complete collapse the Transparency International. The for noncompliance with the Law on of the legal system and institutional European Commission published the Financing of Political Parties. framework, reads the statement of Trans- Report on BiH's Progress for 2011, Foundation of all these problems lies in parency International. which as in previous years highlights the the lack of political will to combat cor- TI BiH appealed to the European Com- lack of progress in combating corruption ruption, as demonstrated through disre- mission to begin applying more specific in BiH. measures against political As the main obstacle to BiH's leaders who are an obstacle to progress in the fight against cor- reforms, as well as political ruption the Report singles out the leaders for whom there are insufficient enforcement of the indications that they are legal framework in this depart- involved in corrupt activities ment, and the fact that the laws on a large-scale, such as aimed at fighting corruption are refusal of communication with not harmonized at different levels the EU, travel ban and freezing of government. The Commission of assets. particularly emphasized the "TI BiH also calls upon the delays in the implementation of European Commission to send a Strategy for combating corruption clear message to political lead- and the establishment of the Anti- ers that fight against corruption corruption Agency and stated the Srdjan Blagovcanin must be a priority and that those problem of institutions' lack of who obstruct the fight against knowledge about the Strategy, which was spect of the recommendations made by corruption can not be partners of the Euro- also confirmed by he results of research Ombudsmen and Audit Office, as well as pean Union," said Executive Director of conducted by TI BiH. As in the previous stalling of reforms in public administra- TI BiH Srdjan Blagovcanin amid publica- period, the Progress Report highlights the tion and judiciary. tion of the Report on Progress. inefficiency of the judiciary, resulting in a In conclusion, the European Commis- According to him, all this suggests that large number of pending cases, and espe- sion highlights the presence of corrup- 2011 was irretrievably lost in the process cially the lack of prosecution of major tion in all segments of BiH society and of government formation and interparty cases of corruption in courts and prosecu- the fact that BiH is still at the beginning conflicts, returning BiH a step back on tors' offices, TI BiH state. of the fight against corruption. the path towards the European Union. Prosecution of corruption is most focused What is disheartening is that all the While countries in the region show on cases of corruption at lower levels, above findings repeat from year to year constant progress in implementing while the cases at higher levels end with in the Progress Report, and the authori- reforms in the way of European inte- acquittal or conditional sentences. ties in BiH are practically ignoring them. gration, which is confirmed by the On the other hand, the Report also On the other hand, the progress made Commission for recommendation to expresses concern at the increasing last year in terms of adoption of the grant Serbia a candidate status and pressures on courts and prosecutor's Strategy for Combating Corruption and approving the start of negotiations with offices by the political actors and hold- the Law on the Agency for the fight Montenegro, BiH is facing certain iso- ers of authorities. against corruption was canceled due to lation and further deepening of the cri- TI BiH recommendations regarding the the failure in applying it. sis, which could consequently threaten financing of political parties were also It is clear that if we do not take specific the overall stability of the country. CURRENT AFFAIRS BiH Federation Government "Deeply Aware of Its Responsibilities" The Government of the Federation of BiH "is deeply aware of its responsibilities and obligations on the road towards EU integrations, and we are really doing everything not only to make this road easier, but also to speed it up," said FBiH Minister of Education and Science Damir Masic, commenting remarks of the European Commission outlined in the 2011 Progress Report for BiH ccording to him, it was obvious that with the recently signed agreement with He noted that the Head of EU Delegation Athe report will be negative. the Council of Foreign Investors on the and EU Special Representative in BiH He said that responsibility for most implementation and enforcement of all Peter Sorensen, after a meeting with of what was said in this report lies the complaints from the 'White Book'," Prime Minister Niksic to whom he sub- with those who impede the progress Masic said. mitted the 2011 Progress Report for BiH of BiH and the formation of the "We want to create a better environment which refers to the entity level of gov- Council of Ministers. for foreign investment, which was also ernment, officially met with all the min- "FBiH Government has a proactive atti- one of the items poorly rated in this report isters in the Government of FBiH. tude, which was practically illustrated of the European Commission," he added. "On this occasion, Sorensen expressed his clear commitment and support to the Portuguese Military Official Visits Government of FBiH, for whose work he said he was satisfied," Minister EUFOR Headquarters Masic explained. Brigadier General Zoltan Gulyas, the Training activities EUFOR are conduct- Answering the question what FBiH Deputy Commander of EUFOR wel- ing with the Armed Forces BiH. Government intends to do about the comed Major General Luis Manuel DCOM EUFOR praised Portugal's problem of "two schools under one Martins Ribeiro, the Portuguese Land ongoing commitment to EUFOR and roof," which was mentioned with con- Forces Command, Deputy Commander acknowledged the professionalism of cern in yesterday's report by the to Camp Butmir. In an Office Call, the Portuguese contingent. Portuguese European Commission, Masic said that DCOM EUFOR briefed the General soldiers perform a number of functions for the first time in a good part of the about the EUFOR mission to assist the within EUFOR including HQ staff cantons in FBiH there is finally political BiH authorities maintain a Safe and posts. In addition they man two Liaison willingness to address this issue. Secure Environment. They also dis- and Observation Houses in Modrica cussed recent Capacity Building and and Derventa. France Wants to Contribute to Building Efficient Judiciary in BiH Organized by the Embassy of France in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a two-day seminar for judges and prosecutors of the Department for War Crimes of the BiH opened in Sarajevo. Addressing the participants, French Ambassador in BiH, Roland Gilles expressed his coun- try's readiness to contribute to building an independent, efficient and powerful judiciary in BiH and to ensure the pres- ence of French expertise and in a most direct way contribute to the enrichment of court practice in BiH. At the same time, he said that the issue of prosecuting war crimes was of the utmost importance for the future of BiH and that the construction of the judicial system in BiH is one of the key issues in the Report of the European Union on progress in BiH. Bosnia Daily, October 14, 2011 2 HIGHLIGHTS OPINION !Deputy Chief of Operations of the Inter- national Committee of the Red Cross for the Force Is the Answer North and Western America, Central, Western and Southeast Europe Christine Oberli and head of the delegation of the to Violence International Committee of the Red Cross in BiH Boris Kelecevic, visited the Missing If fans of a local backgammon club from Konjic got in a fight with Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegov- fans from Mostar, they would all be in bruises and handcuffs in half ina. The purpose of the visit is to support the activities of the delegation of the Interna- an hour. The news of a bizarre fight between fans of a strange game tional Committee of the Red Cross in Bos- would end in the believe-it-or-not section at best nia and Herzegovina, especially in terms of et, if football fans got in a fight in some reason, which feature kicking and cooperation with the Institute for Missing Konjic, it would take at least half an fighting, like all kinds of boxing. Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well Y as support to the entire process of searching hour for the police to arrive, for unknown Tomic didn't deal, and he could, with the sit- for missing persons. Representatives of the reasons, and at least an hour to calm them uations which proved that lack of police ICRC were hosted by the members of the down. The prime time newscast would force causes more fan freedom. You remem- Board of Directors of the IMP, who start with dramatic footage ber when some fool thought of By Emir Imamovic informed them about the process of tracing of hooligans and riots, and organizing a friendly between Radio Sarajevo missing persons, the central register of miss- the pale anchor would Bosnia and Serbia in Sarajevo.