Donor Co-Financing Assessment for New Country Strategy
Annex 1 - Political Assessment in the Context of Article 1
European Bank
for Reconstruction and Development
Communications of B&H. The Agency's Director General must be approved by B&H's Council of Ministers. The existing legislation provides legal
safeguards to ensure the independence of the CRA, but attempts to undermine the latter persist.
The media landscape is diverse and complex and includes some 200 broadcasters, including three public broadcasting services (one operating at
the state level and one in each Entity), and more than 100 periodicals. The internet penetration rate is growing steadily with 73 per cent of citizens
having web access in 2020 compared to 43 per cent in 2010.4
At the same time, according to reports by OSCE, the level of media freedom has been decreasing lately in B&H, despite the appropriate legislation.
Verbal attacks, especially online, against journalists are common, as are physical attacks and other forms of pressure on journalists. There is a
widespread perception among citizens that the media are over-politicised and subject to political influence. The OSCE Representative on Freedom
of the Media underlined that "the negative rhetoric being used against the media must end, in order to prevent further
journalists".5
Multiple channels of civic and political participation
attacks against
Multiple channels of civic and political participation are in place. However, the public participation in policy making needs improvement.
Freedom to form political parties and existence of organised opposition
The freedom to form political parties is both guaranteed by the Constitution and implemented in practice, as highlighted by the existence of
considerable number of parties and a significant opposition able to campaign freely and oppose government initiatives. 22 political parties and six
coalitions competed in the last general elections for the seats in B&H's HOR (23 parties in FB&H's HoR and 21 parties in RS's NA).
Rule of Law and Access to Justice
Supremacy of the law
Necessary legislative and institutional safeguards for the supremacy of the law are in place. Citizens have the right to a free and fair trial, and are
free from arbitrary arrest or detention.
Independence of the judiciary
The independence of the judiciary is guaranteed and key safeguards are in place to ensure its impartiality, although enforcement is uneven. The
main challenges stem from the specifics of B&H's constitutional setup. Independence is affected by the lack of coordination and harmonisation
between the State level and Entity levels, and budgetary fragmentation. Strengthening the independence and efficiency of the judiciary was one of
the main objectives of the EU's Structured Dialogue on Justice, which was discontinued in 2017. Recent progress report by EC noted "signs of
deterioration" in integrity of judiciary, including due to the "obstructions to judicial reforms from political actors and from within the judiciary".
According to the EC, "lack of impartiality" and conflicts of interest are displayed by courts, particularly at the state level. 6 Some CSOs complain that
their access to justice is limited by the narrow interpretation of "interested parties".
4 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Statistics, "Percentage of Individuals Using the Internet”.
5 OSCE RFOM statement, 27 August 2018.
PUBLIC
6 European Commission, 2020 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy, B&H 2020 Report, 6 October 2020.
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