On Monday 19 June, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Zvizdić, said he hoped his country could obtain the status of EU accession candidate in the first half of 2018.
"We are ready. We have an ambition: to receive candidate status in the first half of next year", he told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee. "We are absolutely determined to follow the European path. There is no alternative. It is the only path we intend to take. And as we are applying reforms that are painful to implement, I think we deserve candidate status", he added. Zvizdić nevertheless recognised that economic progress was needed with regard to reforms and in terms of cooperation with neighbouring countries.
His country is currently completing the European Commission's questionnaire, and Zvizdić said that Sarajevo's reply to the Commission's 3,000 questions is likely to take 25,000 pages. He hoped the questionnaire would be returned "in the coming months".
Alongside this, Bosnia and Herzegovina is continuing its reforms. Zvizdić listed his country's progress – especially on GDP growth (which is expected to exceed 3.2% this year) and a 13% rise in exports this year (which is "the best result in 20 years"). He added that "the whole reform programme is being applied in line with the action plan and timetable that was foreseen". Zvizdić stated he would like his country to make progress on the reform of electoral legislation and he underlined the need to respect the European Convention on Human Rights and to apply the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (especially in the Sejdić-Finci case).
"We would like to develop political dialogue, strengthen regional cooperation and retain a policy of reconciliation and good neighbourhood", he said, adding that his country had strengthened it bilateral links with other countries in the region.
Zvizdić also spoke out against the fact that his country is considered a beacon for foreign fighters. He said there was not "a single fighter leaving the country in 2016", and that for 2017 there was no departure to regret either. He added that in 2016 there was not "the return of thousands of fighters, but just of 46". (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)