Cvijanovic, who is on a visit to the Republika Srpska Office in
Brussels, told SRNA by phone that this is one of her regular activities
combined with meetings in the European Commission and the EU’s External Action
Service.
She said she had a number of important
meetings today concerning the situation in BiH, where the dominant subjects
were implementation of the Sejdic-Finci ruling and the coordination mechanism.
“There is optimism concerning the
coordination mechanism, for it is realistic to expect, and this I mentioned at
today’s meetings, that in some future period we will arrive at a solution that
will be sustainable and meet the needs in BiH and the needs occasioned by the
progress to the EU. Things are not the same when it comes to implementing the
Sejdic-Finci ruling,” said Cvijanovic.
She stressed that Brussels is worried
by the issue of the implementation of the Sejdic-Finci ruling, since this is an
obligation which has been on the table for a number of years and yet there is
no vision as to its resolution.
She stressed that today’s meetings
afforded an opportunity to discuss a number of projects, which would do well
with European Commission support. One of the projects is for business
registration, which would necessitate the introduction of a new way to register
businesses in Republika Srpska, the FBiH and Brcko District.
“We have already begun this reform and
feel that it would be good for it to be supported. The fact is that when these
two conditions are met, we will face many activities because the first test
will come after that, maybe even of the new coordination mechanism, a test of
how we will behave when it comes to providing appropriate answers to
questionnaires which will be sent us after we apply, pending receipt of
candidate status,” Cvijanovic told SRNA.
She said that in preparation is a new
way of programming aid, the so-called New IPA or IPA 2, which will go into
force in 2014 and which will require a different behaviour from all who prepare
projects, who work at programming aid.
“This requires a lot of preparations
on our part, requiring us also to understand processes and how the access to
funds will be enabled, and these are new ways and modalities,” Cvijanovic said,
adding that it is good that this began on time.
According to her, representatives of
the Ministry of Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation will attend a
number of various meetings on behalf of the Republika Srpska Cabinet, and
preparations will be needed, capacities adapted and new techniques adopted.
Cvijanovic said that today she met
with the Executive Director for Europe and Central Asia in the External Action
Service, Lewis Phillip Fernandez de la Penja, who replaced Miroslav Lajcak, and
that regular meetings were held in the European Commission in order to resolve
operational issues, particularly when it comes to the said projects, but also
regarding the meeting of obligations in connection with the coordination
mechanism.
