On Tuesday 21 March, before the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Bosnian Prime Minister, Borjana Krišto, underlined the efforts of her Council of Ministers to move forward on the European path. Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted candidate status for EU membership last December.
The Prime Minister said that receiving candidate status and the swift formation of a government was “positive momentum to speed up the reform process”.
Ms Krišto listed the many reforms underway and highlighted the need to move forward with the alignment of constitutional and electoral reform. “This is an issue that needs to be addressed so that we can ease the situation and get on with the other reforms”, she said. According to the Prime Minister, “it is up to (the political staff) to find political agreements that will ensure that each constituent people has equal rights in the institutions, which aim to protect collective rights”.
She also recalled that her Council of Ministers had adopted texts to establish sub-commissions between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU in several areas, namely: - the internal market and competition; - transport, energy, the environment; - public administration reform.
Ms Krišto also called on Europeans to help address the challenge of migration. “Only together can we address the many challenges we face; illegal migration is an important issue for all of us”, she said. “We are ready to work with you and we expect help and support from the institutions to be able to tackle this sensitive issue taking into account international law while respecting human rights”, she added.
The Bosnian also stressed the need for urgent measures to improve the confidence of Bosnian citizens and to allow them to stay in their country, again calling for support from the European institutions. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)