The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called, on Wednesday 1 November in Sarajevo, for Bosnia-Herzegovina to make progress on the key priorities set by the European Commission in its recommendation to open negotiations on the country’s accession to the EU.
On 8 November, the European Commission is due to present Bosnia-Herzegovina’s progress report, and on 15 December, the European Council is due to decide whether or not to open accession negotiations.
“The aim should be to make determined progress on the 14 key priorities (...). This will enable you to move forward in the accession process and bring you closer to the EU”, reiterated Ms von der Leyen alongside Borjana Krišto, President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina. “To achieve this objective, Bosnia-Herzegovina must speak with one voice and move forward as one”, she warned, adding that she could not accept a retreat from common values or divisions in any part of the country.
For the President of the Commission, the appointment of the government and the work carried out by the Council of Ministers during the first year of its mandate show that the country can keep its promises. She also highlighted the measures relating to the Rule of law on which the EU Council has been working in recent weeks.
For her part, Ms Krišto explained her country’s progress with reforms, particularly in the areas of the Rule of law, the fight against corruption and organised crime. She went on to say that a number of reforms forming part of the 14 priorities, such as the fight against money laundering, judicial reforms, the fight against conflicts of interest and Frontex, were currently being finalised.
The Bosnian representative said she hoped that her country would be able to open its accession negotiations in December, claiming that this would encourage the country to be a truly peaceful, industrious and stable society.
As in the rest of her tour of the Western Balkans, Ms von der Leyen presented the EU’s new growth plan for the Western Balkans. “The size of the (Bosnian) economy is 35% of the EU average. So there is a lot of untapped potential”, she stressed. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)