On Tuesday 12 March, based on the conclusions of a much-anticipated report (see EUROPE 13354/14), the European Commission decided to recommend to the EU27 that they open EU accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. This will be a matter for the heads of State or government to discuss at the next European Council on 21 and 22 March.
“Of course, further progress is needed to join our Union. But the country is demonstrating that it can meet the criteria for membership and respond to the aspiration of its citizens to be part of our family. This is why we will decide today to recommend to the Council to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina”, declared the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Strasbourg.
According to the Commission’s report, the Western Balkan country is now “fully aligned” with the EU’s foreign and security policy, and “important” laws have been passed, notably on preventing conflicts of interest, combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
The Commission also believes that Sarajevo has succeeded in improving its management of migratory flows, and that negotiations on a border traffic agreement are now ready to be opened after the EU Council Presidency approved the negotiating mandate.
The report also states that the fact that the Bosnian Ministry of Justice has agreed to include the judgements of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the national criminal record and that a steering committee for the consolidation of peace has just been set up were major factors.
“More progress has been achieved in just over a year than in a whole decade”, said Ms von der Leyen, acknowledging at the same time that the Commission had “shifted gear” in recent years in its “approach to this region”.
“We don’t talk about ourselves, we don’t boast, but from the highest European spheres it has been said that in one year of new government at state level, we have achieved more than our predecessors did in 10 years”, reacted the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nermin Nikšić.
In the EU antechamber since 2016
Bosnia and Herzegovina applied to become a Member State in February 2016, before the European Council finally granted it candidate status on 15 December 2022. Almost exactly one year later - on 14 December 2023 - the Member States decided to follow the Commission’s recommendations, which advocated opening negotiations with Sarajevo “once the necessary degree of compliance with the accession criteria has been achieved”. This has now happened, according to the Commission (see EUROPE 13314/1, 13308/22).
It will now be up to the Member States to reach an agreement on the official opening of negotiations. The subject will be on the agenda of the next European Council, after the German, Austrian and Italian foreign ministers travelled to Sarajevo last week to support the opening of negotiations.
“It is now time for EU leaders to recognise the strengthened progress on reform and support Bosnia and Herzegovina on its path to the EU”, commented Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who welcomed the Commission’s decision after its announcement.
While the news was warmly welcomed by political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the President of Republika Srpska, the country’s Serbian entity, Milorad Dodik, said that “without a date, it does not mean much”.
The issue of the Serbian entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina is likely to feature prominently in the upcoming discussions, with Mr Dodik, who regards Russian President Vladimir Putin as an ally, having made a number of defiant gestures in recent months, both at home and on the international stage.
On 7 September, he ordered the police to arrest and expel the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, if he attempted to enter the entity’s territory. In June 2023, the entity’s National Assembly passed a law stating that the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina were no longer applicable within the political entity. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)