Due to political blockades and lack of reforms, Bosnia and Herzegovina faces serious obstacles on the European path. The financial sector is waiting for the final decision on the possible placement of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Moneyvala gray list, while concerns are growing among exporters who place the majority of their products on the European Union market. A negative signal, experts warn, further discourages potential investors.
Stronger control of financial transactions, multi-day waiting for payments, avoidance of investments and voluminous documentation. All this awaits the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina after putting Moneyvala on the gray list. Since 2024, Moneyval has warned the Council of Ministers to adopt reform laws: of the three required, only the Law on Limiting the Disposal of Assets for the Prevention of Terrorism has been adopted. While the Law on International Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters and the Law on Confiscation and Management of Assets Acquired by Crime do not have support in the Council of Ministers.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković (NiP), says that part of the responsibility also lies with the political structures from the Bosnian entity RS.
And again, no one is to blame. The sea is crooked
“Representatives from the BiH entity of the RS do not agree that the management of state property, i.e. property acquired through criminal acts, takes place at the state level, where it must be according to the Constitution and where the citizens expect it. We were ready for this property to be made available to lower levels of government due to the development of the economy, but they persisted in this and brought us, solely through the fault of the SNSD ministers, to the gray list of Moneyvala,” said Konaković for FTV.
When looking for culprits and excuses, the entity’s responsibility must not be neglected. The Federal Ministry of Justice should have established the Register of Beneficial Owners of Legal Entities. Instead Minister of Justice of the Federation of BiH Vedran Škobić (HDZ BiH) blames the World Bankwhich, according to him, took over the project of creating the register: “The deficiency of the World Bank project has brought us to this unenviable situation. It is this international project, which was never completed to the end, that is the main reason for the lack of a register of real owners, which ultimately became one of the key reasons for potentially putting Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Moneyval gray list.”
Collective or individual responsibility – Moneyvalu doesn’t care. Requests not metand now all citizens will suffer. Extensive documentation, slower transaction, more expensive loans. Director of the Association of Banks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Edis Razanica warns of the consequences for the diaspora and financial flows: “Given that Bosnia and Herzegovina has a large diaspora, whose remittances exceed four and a half billion convertible marks per year, any increase in costs and administrative burden can significantly affect and slow down such transactions.”
Economic analyst Zoran Pavlović points out that companies that do business abroad will have the most problems: “All companies that export and import and work with foreign countries will have difficulties and control of these transfers, which will often be unnecessary. The result will be slow payments, so instead of three days, the money will travel for seven to ten days.”
The gray list does not mean much to our politicians
Bosnia and Herzegovina was already on the gray list of Moneyvala in 2015. year. And then it took us three years to adopt the necessary reforms in order for Moneyval to remove us from the gray list. Now the process could be even longer, given that the recommendations will not only refer to legal regulations but also their implementation.
Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jasmina Selimović emphasizes the need to protect the financial sector: “We must make an effort to save the financial sector from these negative effects and make a clear distinction between what is the lack of political readiness to adopt certain legal solutions and what is practical life.”
Practical life does not touch our politicians. Diplomatic passports, official cars, charter flights and real estate without credit. Meanwhile, the gray list doesn’t mean much to them. The damaged reputation of the state in the world also does not worry them, because they always find the culprit on duty in the other.
