Visiting Sarajevo on Tuesday 13 May, following his visit to Serbia on the same day (see EUROPE 13639/28), the President of the European Council, António Costa, said that the EU was “committed” to Bosnia’s European future and “ready” to continue working with the country’s tripartite Presidency in this direction.
Bosnia-Herzegovina is marked by separatist tensions stemming from Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb entity, whose leader, Milorad Dodik, has been convicted and is wanted for violating the constitutional order (see EUROPE 13599/17).
“Secessionist rhetoric and actions against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and constitutional order run counter to the European Union path of Bosnia-Herzegovina”, stated António Costa from Sarajevo.
At this stage, the country still needs to implement a number of reforms, including “the approval of two judicial laws, the appointment of a chief negotiator [with the EU] and the adoption of the reform agenda” in order to benefit from the European Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
Bosnia-Herzegovina is the only one of the six countries in the region that has not yet finalised its reform programme (see EUROPE 13510/19). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)