[Benchmarking in BiH] Concretization of European Integration Process: Masks to Fall off

This report, part of a regional project, studies the effectiveness of the EU’s benchmarking system on a selected policy issues within the Chapters 23 and 24 focusing on the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The sample was selected following a mapping of benchmarks that are common or similar among the six Western Balkan aspirants for EU membership. This analysis represents a first major attempt to critically evaluate the degree to which the objectives are achieved and the extent to which targeted problems are solved in order to further advance in the EU accession process. The structure of this paper the following: first, it provides a contextual overview of the benchmarking in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a case study followed by a brief explanation of the methodology. The empirical section that follows provides an analysis of the evolution of each of the selected benchmarks since their introduction joined by an assessment of the current state of play. Last, the study reflects on the findings and provides recommendations.