The prospect of EU accession for Bosnia and Herzegovina is, at the time, a part of common political discourse. Despite the topic being a highly politicized one, whereby it is used as a means of achieving particular and general shifts in public opinion and as an informal ordering device of the present international regime in the attempt to accomplish the securitization of different issue areas, it is worth considering it in pragmatic political and economic terms respectively.
EU accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina remains among the objectives of the official foreign policy on the state level and can, therefore, be understood as a relevant political and economic topic for the entire country as decided by its leadership (Presidency of BiH, 2018). For the purposes of this article, the political considerations of EU accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina will only serve as a secondary motif, whereby the article is focused more strictly on the economic perspective of accession, exploring the benefits and difficulties, investments, particularities about the position of the European common market, the common agricultural policy and overall analysis of the economic dimension of accession.
Although it is difficult to present the economic relations between BiH and the EU in predictable or scientific terms due to the various normative elements involved in the discussion, it is possible to draw up certain variables and opportunities that the EU offers and to consider the experiences of other countries comparatively before and after their EU accession.
A good starting point would be to consider the European common market. As an advanced level of economic integration, it allows the free movement of goods and services, labor and capital. Furthermore, the EU is a formal member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which contractually ensures equal treatment of all businesses in terms of eliminating protectionism and establishing the same status, immunities, and reliefs to all products and services offered by the WTO members no matter where they are offered and sold in the EU. If BiH becomes a part of the EU, the accession working party to the WTO would have an easier time integrating BiH into the WTO, as it would have already adjusted and reformed its economic policy greatly per requirements of the Aquis Communautaire. Being a part of both the European common market and the WTO would enable the overall growth of the country’s economy and enable locally produced products to be a part of a market that numbers approximately 447 million consumers instead of only being a part of a market that numbers approximately the population of 3 million which is in constant and sharp decline with every new year.
However, it is important to consider that becoming a part of the European common market can not only be looked at from the perspective of what BiH gains from the EU but also what the EU gains from BiH. Following this idea, one can reach the conclusion that the country needs to conduct the necessary reforms that would bring the quality of Bosnian products to a standard acceptable to the EU. Beyond product quality, it’s essential to consider how safely and quickly the product can reach other EU countries. This highlights the urgent issue of the country’s underdeveloped infrastructure. Local economists and policymakers ought to consider these implications among any others that would improve the perception of BiH to become a trustworthy and good trading partner.
Looking at the lessons to be learned from the neighboring Croatia, whereby EU membership alone did not solve the issues of low productivity, ineffective public administration, and an unfavorable business environment, but did see a noticeable difference in the GDP per capita before and after accession to the common market (Wankiewicz, 2024), it can be concluded that the common market offers opportunity, but that ultimately it rests upon the state and not European actors what will be done with this opportunity. To ensure economic prosperity, leaders of BiH ought to enjoy the benefits of EU institutions but focus on the fact that Bosnian problems can only be solved by Bosnia.
Another economic consideration that is unique and particular to BiH is the fact that it is one of the most rural countries in Europe (UNDP, 2013). This places it in the spotlight due to the fact that the EU places great importance on its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is intended to provide greater standards to rural areas and use the EU funds to improve the efficiency, equipment, and productivity of European farmers. In the recent period, this was witnessed by the resources of the CAP being directed towards providing improved internet services, high-speed technologies, and infrastructure to 18 million rural citizens (Agriculture and Rural Development, n.d). Due to its composition and unique domestic factors, BiH could be one of the countries that benefit from the CAP the most.
To provide incentives for BiH to continue the development of its EU path, the EU has provided several economic grants and financial assistance programs to BiH. They include the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA), whereby the EU has allocated over €309 million of financial and technical assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Economic & Investment Plan, which includes projects such as the construction of new motorways and waste collection and disposal services. Following the accession, BiH would be able to access and become part of larger investment projects, becoming another subject that would benefit from ever-increasing EU funding. However, this would also have certain implications for the work of the government, as compliance with EU regulations in order to be able to access the EU funds may require government spending in certain issue areas. Following the established pattern in this text, we again come to the same conclusion: the EU offers opportunity, but how it will be used rests upon state institutions, and EU funding will not be efficiently used if it is affected by the high levels of corruption and bribery in the country.
In conclusion, it can be stated that BiH’s accession to the EU provides prominent economic incentives for integration, however, this does not signify that upon integration, the work is done. A common mistake in discussions about this topic is to focus only on the responsibilities of the EU, but the majority of the work for improvement is the responsibility of state and non-state actors of Bosnia and Herzegovina itself.
