Brussels, 13/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Denis Zvivdic said on Thursday 12 May that he hoped the Council of the European Union would soon consider his country's application to join the EU.
“I hope that the Council will consider our candidacy as quickly as possible and ask the (European) Commission to deliver its opinion. That would be a great step forward”, he told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Strasbourg. In a resolution adopted on 14 April, Parliament, too, called for the application submitted by Bosnia and Herzegovina on 15 February 2016 (see EUROPE 11490) to be given consideration as speedily as possible (see EUROPE 11532).
In his address to the committee, Zvivdic spoke of the European ambitions of his country: “Bosnia and Herzegovina is fully engaged on the path towards accession. Accession is the ultimate goal of our foreign policy”. He said that 80% of Bosnians wanted their country to be part of the EU. “Our path towards the EU may well be complicated and fraught with difficulties but, after a period of deadlock, we have decided to resume and speed up the process towards the road to European integration”, he made clear. In a year, the country put itself firmly back on the path to Europe (see EUROPE 11192). According to Zvivdic, integration is a wish shared by all politicians at all levels, and all are committed to putting in place whatever reforms are necessary.
Zvivdic highlighted some of the reforms that are taking place. His government is working on economic and social reform, including addressing the country's very high youth unemployment, reform of the judicial system and tackling corruption. He said that compliance of the stabilisation and association agreement after the accession of Croatia to the EU and adoption of the coordinating mechanism on European issues, two key issues if the country is to make progress towards EU membership, will take place soon. Bosnia and Herzegovina is also working on tackling terrorism and extremism. “We are doing well in the fight against terrorism”, Zvivdic added, highlighting the cooperation among the countries of the Western Balkans on this issue. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)