EC/Bosnia and Herzegovina Stabilisation and Association Agreement: accession of Croatia to the EU. Protocol

2016/0311(NLE)

PURPOSE: to conclude a Protocol to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part, to take account of the accession of Croatia to the European Union.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion.

BACKGROUND: the Protocol to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part, to take account of the accession of Croatia to the European Union was signed, subject to its conclusion. The Protocol should now be approved.

CONTENT: the draft Council decision is aimed at approving, on behalf of the Union, the Protocol to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the other part, to take account of the accession of Croatia to the European Union.

In terms of the Protocol, Croatia shall be Party to the SAA, signed in Luxembourg on 16 June 2008, and shall respectively adopt and take note, in the same manner as the other Member States of the European Union, of the texts of the SAA, as well as of the Joint Declarations, and the Unilateral Declarations annexed to the Final Act signed on the same date.

The adjustments to the text of the SAA relate to agricultural products (agricultural products sensu stricu, fish and fishery products, processed agricultural products and wine agreement.)

The conclusion of the Protocol is subject to a separate procedure as regards matters falling within the competence of the European Atomic Energy Community.

For further details, please refer to the Commission’s initial proposal dated 6.10.2016.