What is DIS?

The process of moving towards EU integration is defined by the Stabilisation and Association Agreement. BiH is classified as a potential EU candidate country, with the aim of becoming a candidate country, and will operate for the immediate future within the context of the new Instrument for Pre–Accession Assistance (IPA).  

Current EU assistance to BiH is centralised and managed by the Delegation of the European Commission in BiH. Decentralisation of EU assistance in BiH is the intention of both the EC and BiH authorities. This requires the establishment of local institutions which will co-ordinate and manage projects under the Decetralised Implementation System (DIS). This means that future EU funded programs will be coordinated by institutions of BiH.

WHAT IS IPA?

The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) offers targeted financial and technical assistance during the period 2007-2013 to countries aspiring to join the European Union. IPA has five (5) components;

1. Transition Assistance and Institution Building

2. Cross-border Co-operation

3. Regional development

 4. Human resources development

5. Rural Development. 

Since BiH is defined as a potential candidate country, initially it will have access only to funds under the first two of the five components of IPA. The indicative allocations for BiH are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Funds available for BiH

The aim of the IPA is to enhance the efficiency and coherence of financial aid. In order to allow eligible countries to fully benefit from funding under any of the 5 components of IPA, preparatory measures need to be taken. The first step is establishing a Decentralised Implementation System and associated institutions which are needed for full implementation of IPA.

Good preparations to manage the 2 components for which BiH is eligible will enable BiH to build a strong structure not only to manage all pre-accession funds under IPA, but also in future to receive structural funds as an EU member state.

The second step is the accreditation phase, which means getting EC approval for the new structures, and, eventually, transfer of aid management to BiH institutions. Then the key players will be fully prepared local institutions.