Brussels, 09/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 9 December, European and American representatives called on Bosnia-Herzegovina to continue its reforms.
During the “European Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina - 20 years after Dayton-Paris Peace Agreement” conference organised at the European Parliament, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini stated that in order to submit a credible EU accession application, Bosnia-Herzegovina should “continue to engage and continue its commitments towards its citizens”. She highlighted the economic and social reforms. For European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, further progress is needed before the EU can envisage this application. He stressed the importance of an agreement on the coordination mechanism on European issues, and of the respect of the stabilisation and association agreement after Croatia's accession. “The reform programme is anything but a bureaucratic exercise. It's about creating trust in the institutions and the administration, creating a fair and transparent tax system, creating a suitable environment for the development of companies and for being able to attract investors”, Hahn said. In the view of EPP leader, Joseph Daul, the reform of the judicial system, the rule of law and the fight against corruption are principles from which the EU cannot depart.
The US deputy assistant secretary for Europeans and Eurasian affairs, Brian Hoyt Yee, was tougher. Although, in his view, “there has been considerable progress recorded by Bosnia-Herzegovina since the Dayton Accords”, “much still remains to be done”. He called for an “ambitious” plan, “even more ambitious than the European reform agenda” which includes all the reforms to be made by 2018 - the date of the next presidential elections. In Yee's view, encouragement to the Bosnian leaders must be still stronger and there needs to be more talk of responsibilities.
The chairman of the presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dragan Covic, said that “the reforms undertaken, besides economic and social stabilisation, will enable the structure of Bosnia-Herzegovina to be strengthened”. He stated that every man's rights need to be protected and that Bosnia was going to become a “state of equal peoples, of equal citizens”. Covic also thought that federalism was the main criterion that would enable a common life to be established in Bosnia - and he mentioned the model of Belgium. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)