Brussels, 06/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 6 November, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said she “highly” valued the ideas presented the previous day by UK Foreign Affairs Minister Philip Hammond and German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier for bringing progress to Bosnia-Herzegovina in achieving reforms and progressing on the path to Europe. She said she had discussed these ideas with them very recently.
Steinmeier and Hammond proposed trying to obtain the support of the member states to ratify the stabilisation and association agreement, which is currently on hold, in exchange for written commitments of institutional reforms at all levels from the state of Bosnia and of a wider political and economic reform programme (see EUROPE 11172). Hammond hopes that the approval might be given at the Foreign Affairs Council on 12 December. Once the reforms are implemented, Berlin and London should support the submission of a request for accession from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
“The ideas of my German and British colleagues are timely and they address the real issue”, said Mogherini, stating that she was going to advance this reflection as soon as she could - either at the next Foreign Affairs Council on 17 November, or there could be “a more thorough discussion”. “I also intend to visit Sarajevo at the earliest to engage with the new leadership [of the country after the elections on 12 October] on the way forward”, she added.
“We all agree that, after the recent elections, Bosnia and Herzegovina should not remain in a stalemate”, said Mogherini. Stating that “good work” had been done in the past by the EU and its international partners to help the country “in overcoming its challenges”, she said that a “new spirit is needed to effectively deal with reforms which are the key not only for the EU way of the country, but also and mainly for its citizens' lives”. (CG)