What is twinning

Twinning project Empowerment and further support to the Parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina in EU integration tasks

Nature and purpose

This twinning project has a strategic mission to strengthen the capacities of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PABiH), the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PFBiH), the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NARS) and the Brčko District Assembly (BDA), as well as the Cantonal Assemblies (CAs), to exercise their EU-related tasks in the EU accession process and implementation of the requirements of the EU-BiH Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA). 

The current Twinning Project builds on the results of two former twinning projects: Twinning Project “Enhancing the role of parliaments in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the EU integration context” (2014-2016) also implemented by the Hungarian National Assembly in cooperation with the French National Assembly which covered wide variety of fields to enhance the legislative and administrative capacities of the Parliaments of BiH and to strengthen their role in the EU integration process; and Twinning Light Project “Support to the administrative structures for EU integration related tasks of the Parliaments of Bosnia and Herzegovina” (2017) implemented alone by the Hungarian National Assembly which focused 1) on the assistance to the setting up and functioning of the EU Units of the Parliaments of BiH; and 2) on the assessment of the needs of the Cantonal Assemblies in the EU integration context

The project, with a total budget of EUR 2.3 million is financed by the European Union’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) which aims at providing targeted financial assistance to countries which are candidates and potential candidates for membership to the EU.

Scope and structure

The Twinning Project comprises 4 large themes defined as "components”. These include the following areas:

1. Enhancing the capacities of the EU Units of BiH Parliaments
2. Strengthening cooperation among the BiH Parliaments on EU related issues
3. Enhancing legal approximation capacities of the parliamentary administrations
4. Developing capacities of the Cantonal Assemblies Each of the above components is divided into several issue areas determined as "subcomponents”. 

What is a twinning program? (EC)