Online interparliamentary conference of parliamentary standing committees dealing with EU affairs

The Twinning Project organized an online inter-parliamentary conference of committees dealing with EU affairs, with the participation of Chairs and members of relevant committees of the project implementing EU Member States Austria, Croatia and Hungary and the four Beneficiary Parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 16 February 2021. The meeting was chaired by the Chairpersons of the relevant EU committees of both Houses of the Austrian Parliament.

The Members of Parliament discussed the role of Parliaments of BiH in the EU integration process of Bosnia and Herzegovina focusing on the following topics:
• State of play and the 2020 European Commission Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Achievement of the 14 key priorities from the European Commission’s Opinion on the country’s EU membership application
• The Priority Plan for Parliaments of BiH for accelerating the European integration process and the EU committees’ role in its implementation
The participants of the conference discussed the topics of the agenda in a vivid and constructive debate, touching upon a broad range of topics and parliamentary tasks related to the EU integration process of BiH.
The delegations of the interparliamentary conference were headed by:
Mr Christian Buchmann, President of the Austrian Federal Council and Chair of the EU Committee, Austrian Parliament
Mr Reinhold Lopatka, Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on EU Affairs of the Austrian National Council, Austrian Parliament
Mr Richárd Hörcsik, Chair of the Committee on European Affairs, Hungarian National Assembly
Mr Domagoj Hajduković, Chair of the European Affairs Committee, Croatian Parliament
Mr Nikola Lovrinović, Chair of the Joint Committee on European Integration, PABiH
Mr Tomislav Martinović, Speaker, Chairman of the Committee for European Integration, PFBiH HoP
Mr Mirsad Zaimović, Speaker, Chairman of the Committee on European Integration, PFBiH HoR
Mr Igor Crnadak, Chairman of the Committee on European Integration and Regional Cooperation, NARS
Mr Uroš Vojnović, Chair of the Committee on European Integrations, BDA

The meeting took place at political level for the first time in this format offering an essential platform for exchange.

The participants agreed in a follow up meeting of the committees dealing with EU affairs in similar format in June 2021 aiming to get an overview of the implemented measures and to further examine some specific topics.