The first Steering Committee Meeting
The first Steering Committee Meeting within the EU funded Project "IPAK - Institutional Support to Anti-corruption in Bosnia and Herzegovina", was held on February 14, 2019, at the premises of the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.
Participants at the Steering Committee Meeting were:
- Nicolas BIZEL, Head of Operation Section for Justice and Home Affairs and Public Administration Reform, Delegation of the European Union
- Johannes HINTZEN, Programme Manager for Justice Reform and Security, Delegation of the European Union
- Zoran JAČEV, Team Leader of the Project Support to Implementing anti-corruption strategies in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Zlatko MINIĆ, Key Expert of the Project Support to Implementing anti-corruption strategies in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Hasim ŠABOTIĆ, Director of the Agency for the prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption
- Meliha OMERSPAHIĆ, President of the Anti-Corruption Team of Zenica-Doboj Canton
- Nermin KADRIBAŠIĆ, Member of the Anti-Corruption Team of Zenica-Doboj Canton
- Faruk ŠAHBEGOVIĆ, Team Member of the Office for the fight against corruption and management of quality of Canton of Sarajevo
- Mirela TUZLAK, Member of the Corruption Prevention Team of the Tuzla Canton
- Šejla ŠARIĆ, Team Coordinator of the Working body of the Government of Una-Sana Canton for the Prevention of Corruption
- Jasmin GOGIĆ, Chief Inspector at the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA)
- Elmir PILAV, Team Coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Team in Bosnian - Podrinje Canton
- Merima MUJKIĆ, Member of the Commission on prevention of corruption and coordination of activities in the fight against corruption of Brčko District BiH
- Berislav ŽIVKOVIĆ, President of the Team for Monitoring the Anti-Corruption Strategy and Action Plan of the Posavina Canton
- Semir SOFTIĆ, Team Coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Team of the Central Bosnia Canton
- Mladen MAKSIMOVIC, Member of the Commission for Implementation of the Strategy for Fighting against Corruption of Republika Srpska
- Sead LISAK, President of the Anti-Corruption Team of the Government of Federation of BiH
- Francesco TROJA, Rule of Law Adviser, Delegation of the European Union to BiH & European Union Special Representative in BiH
- Mirna BRESAN, Rule of Law Adviser, Delegation of the European Union to BiH & European Union Special Representative in BiH
- Radoš DABETIĆ, Project Director on behalf of Evropska Konsalting Grupa LLC
- Ivana ĐIKIĆ, Consortium Partner DCS d.o.o
- Una LAZIN, Office Manager, Project Support to Implementing anti-corruption strategies in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mr. Bizel gave a brief introduction of the Project, sharing that it started on January 15, 2019, and will last until January 2021. The selected international experts Mr. Zoran Jačev and Mr. Zlatko Minić will help and support, as well as provide strategic, legal and operational advice to all anti-corruption bodies and other public institutions playing a crucial role in the field of prevention of corruption. Mr. Bizel reminded the SC participants that the aim is to jointly achieve better results in the prevention of corruption in the public and private sector. There are in total 18 different activities planned, making it an ambitious Project from which everybody involved will surely benefit.
Mr. Bizel reminded that, parallel to this project, there are two other projects supported by the EU, in the field of anti-corruption. One is EU4Justice - Support to the fight against corruption and organized crime, with the value of 2.2 Million Euro. It is implemented jointly with the French Ministry of Justice and it just started in February and will last until February 2021. And the second is EU support against corruption in BiH, with the value of 500.000 Euro and implemented by Transparency International BiH. The aim of this Project is the identification of certain corruptive practices in the health sector in BiH.
These three projects will jointly tackle both prevention and repression of corruption in BiH. The EU shows with these three projects its commitment to tackle corruption in BiH.
Presentation of the draft Inception Report and Work Plan by the Project Team Leader, Mr. Zoran Jačev and Mr. Zlatko Minić
Mr. Jačev made a brief comparison of the past and current state of anti-corruption activities in BiH, sharing that there are progresses made since a few years ago when anti-corruption in BiH was only in its infancy. In this regard, this Project comes at the right time, to provide support to the existing system of anti-corruption and to take the fight to the next level. Further, Mr. Jachev presented the summary of the Project, Components of the Project and finally the planned activities which will be implemented.
Presentation at the bottom of the page: IPAK presentation
Mr. Minic presented the 3rd Component of the Project, sharing briefly the expected results to be achieved, ways to go, as well as risks assumptions and their overcoming.
Presentation at the bottom of the page: IPAK component 3 presentation
Mr. Bizel opened the discussion about the formal adoption of the Inception Report of the Project, explaining the formal way of adoption. A printed copy of the draft Inception Report was provided at this Steering Committee Meeting to the participants, and an electronic version of the document will be send to everyone afterwards. Final date for providing comments was set for February 25
Establishment of the Steering Committee Members and their alternates
At this point, the participants were asked to provide the names of the appointed members of the SCM as well as their alternates. For that purpose, a list of Appointed Members and Deputy Members of the SCM was circulated and all participating members filled in the required information. The list of all members and their alternates is provided at the end of this document. Ms. Merima Mujkić informed the SC that Brčko District BiH has adopted the Anti-corruption Strategy, as well as a set of AC laws, like the Law on the formation of the Office for prevention of corruption. At this moment, the Body does not have any members, but their appointment is expected very soon. It was also agreed to try to get the remaining AC bodies represented in the SC (Corruption Prevention Team in Canton 10, Anti-corruption Team of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, and Anti-corruption Commission of the West Herzegovina Canton).
Project governance
At the very beginning of the SC Meeting, the question of the working language of the SCM was raised. It was agreed to have the reports in English language and to hold the meetings in local language, with provided translation for English speaking participants.
Besides the language of the SCM, there are 3 other topics for this agenda item, as shared by Mr. Hintzen. First is the Co-chairing of the meeting, which for the future meetings should be performed by the EU Delegation jointly with APIK. The second topic is if there are any other participants, observers, NGOs or media that should be invited to participate and that could provide added value to this SC, together with the definition of their role at the Steering Committee (only observers or participants), and lastly how often the meetings should take place. Mr. Lisak responded to the question of possibility of other participants to be invited and proposed to leave this question for the next meeting. He made the point that such proposal requires deeper thinking and the answer cannot be provided at this moment. NGO sector should definitely be included. It was agreed to provide proposals for the inclusion of other participants latest by the next meeting, but preferably within the next month. Since there is an open agenda for the next meeting, Mr. Hintzen invited the participants to share with the team proposals and ideas, as well as proposed agenda items in the upcoming period.
It was agreed to organize the SC meetings every three months, as foreseen by the ToR of the Project. It was agreed to look into the possibility of the SC meetings to be organized jointly with other planned activities of the Project, like trainings or workshops and in this way provide the requested accommodation to participants travelling from distant locations as well as the possibility to organize some of the meetings at other places in BiH, Banja Luka, Bihac, Tuzla etc. Meetings should also not overlap with meetings organized by OSCE. Mr. Hintzen proposed a tentative date for the next meeting for May 15. This date should be scheduled for now and if there is a need to change it, it will be informed timely. There were no objections to the proposed date of the next meeting.