Bosnia and Herzegovina review

The study will assess the impact and achievements of ALTHEA (the military operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina), especially from the perspective of capacity-building of the armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AfBiH), which is one of the primary responsibilities of ALTHEA. The study will identify the successes and potential shortcomings in the implementation of the mandate of the mission; with a view to identifying progress made in the reform processes within the AfBiH. Such assessment, through the engagement of the military operation ALTHEA, will allow the identification and analysis of best practices, lessons identified and drawbacks from EU engagement in SSR activities in BiH. It will include an analysis of the existing practices for pooling and sharing. One part of research within this task will be focused on the representatives of local institutions (personnel of AfBih), who are main beneficiaries of the programmes and trainings of ALTHEA. Combining both perspectives (the perspective of representatives of ALTHEA vis-a-vis local institution (AfBiH) & the perspective of the representatives of AfBih vis-a-vis programmes of ALTHEA) will be needed to increase the efficiency of EU future actions, to increase legitimacy of this CSDP mission, and last, but not least, will prove useful when planning and designing potential future EU engagements in BiH and elsewhere, when the EU military operations are in question. The desk study will assess the current situation and contribution by to the overall security and stability of BiH. The study will identify the successes and potential shortcomings in the implementation of the mandates of the missions and also to elaborate on the existing practices for pooling and sharing.