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In this study, we examined whether small countries, when joining the European Union and transferring a part of their sovereignty to the EU institutions, become economically stronger or weaker. We have conducted our assessment based on the index of relative concentration of power (IRC), which was developed for the purpose of this analysis, modifying the Herfi ndahl-Hirschman Index. Our analysis has shown that in the analyzed period between 2000 and 2015, the relative economic power of small member states of the EU grew stronger, while, at the same time, the relative economic power of large countries weakened. We started from the assumption that small countries, prior to their entry into the European Union, have lower competitiveness due to the relatively higher fi xed costs in the public and private sector. Large single market of the European Union produces relatively stronger effect of economies of scale for small countries compared to large countries, which is why their relative economic power grows faster than the relative power of large countries.

In this paper, we analyze the new system of improving fiscal transparency in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and its ability to contribute to increasing fiscal competitiveness. BiH has a specific system of fiscal federalism and decentralization, with four fiscal jurisdictions of disproportionate jurisdiction. By introducing the fiscal register as a public document, fiscal jurisdictions seek to increase fiscal transparency, discourage the introduction of new non-tax levies, reduce existing non-tax levies and eliminate parafiscal levies. In this paper, we investigated whether the new legislation allow for the achievement of these goals. Using the method of qualitative analysis, we concluded that rigorous conditions for entering public tax in the fiscal register and the legal provision that there is no obligation to pay any public tax if it is not entered in the fiscal register are a realistic basis for increasing fiscal transparency. A higher level of fiscal transparency should strengthen the interest of businesses and citizens in the non-tax burden and increase pressure on the government to reduce it. In order for a higher level of fiscal transparency to have an impact on increasing fiscal competitiveness, reforms of government institutions and changes in the way public money is spent are necessary.

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