Officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Commission convened in a hybrid meeting on 22 May 2025 for the 8^th sub-committee meeting on economic and financial issues and statistics under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The meeting was co-chaired for Bosnia and Herzegovina by Ms Vera Letica, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, and for the European Commission by Mr Uwe Stamm, Head of Unit in the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs and by Ms Katarzyna Sobieraj, Economic and Trade Officer for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood. The last meeting of the sub-committee was held on 23 May 2024.

The sub-committee took stock of the most important recent economic developments and economic outlook, the fiscal policy and financial stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina, public internal financial control, the Economic Reform Programme (ERP) and statistical cooperation.

The Commission underlined that deepening EU-related reforms in all sectors under discussion will help Bosnia and Herzegovina advance in regional economic cooperation, integrate into the EU’s single market, and accelerate socio-economic convergence with the EU. It will significantly accelerate the speed of the enlargement process, boost the growth of BiH economy and create more jobs for the citizens. The Commission reiterated that having a functioning SAA dialogue is key to this end.

With regard to fiscal policy, the Commission encouraged Bosnia and Herzegovina to adopt the Global Fiscal Framework in time, to improve the coordination among the various institutions producing fiscal data and frameworks and suggested to learn from the experience of Member States. The Commission encouraged Bosnia-Herzegovina to improve the country-wide data consolidation and welcomed the Central Bank’s readiness to continue working on the compilation of EU compatible country-wide general government data. 

On financial sector developments, the Commission discussed the progress in preparation for a SEPA application and for the liberalisation of capital movements to align with the EU acquis on the free movement of capital.

On financial control, the Commission complemented legal framework being largely in place but stressed the need for its effective implementation across the public sector bodies. The Commission also stressed the importance of effective public internal financial control oversight over publicly-owned enterprises, the improvement of implementation of external audit recommendations by public administration and further encouraged Bosnia and Herzegovina to improve the parliamentary scrutiny of such recommendations. The Commission also urged the designation of an Anti-fraud Coordination Service (AFCOS) as a first key step for the protection of EU financial interest.

Concerning the Economic Reform Programme (ERP), the Commission pointed to the negative effects of the repeatedly delayed submission on the country’s reputation and credibility and urged the authorities to adopt the necessary measures to guarantee a timely submission of the 2026 programme. 

On statistics, the Commission urged Bosnia and Herzegovina to conduct the agricultural census, to adopt the roadmap for the next population and housing census and to finalise the equivalent of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) classification system. The Commission welcomed positive developments in the use of administrative data for production of official statistics and emphasized the importance of alignment with the European Statistics Code of Practice and the need for Bosnia and Herzegovina to further enhance the timeliness and quantity of the statistical data submitted to Eurostat.

Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to undertake socio-economic reforms to progress towards meeting the economic accession criteria, in particular by strengthening the rule of law, the functioning of state-level institutions and cooperation among stakeholders and by addressing the fragmentation of the country's internal market, also in view of early integration into the internal market. In this context, the Commission looks forward to the submission without further delay of BiH’s Reform Agenda under the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.