Brussels recommends opening EU membership talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina

Saying her government’s determination on Tuesday morning in a speech to the European Parliament, Fee President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned: “Since we granted candidate standing, Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken spectacular steps ahead. Extra progress has been achieved in simply over a 12 months than in over a decade.”

“After all, extra progress is critical to hitch our Union. However the nation is displaying that it might probably ship on the membership standards, and on its residents’ aspiration to be a part of our household,” von der Leyen added.

“The way forward for Bosnia and Herzegovina lies in our Union.” 

EU enlargement commissioner Olivér Várhelyi mentioned that the nation had “relentlessly” superior on its objective of European integration, delivering “very optimistic outcomes.”

The Fee’s advice will should be accredited by all 27 EU leaders, who’re set to determine in a summit subsequent week in Brussels.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – which was granted EU candidate standing in December 2022 – is considered one of 5 Western Balkan international locations recognised as official candidates to hitch the EU. Till at this time, it was the one a kind of international locations but to enter formal accession negotiations.

Deeply entrenched ethnic divisions and delays in constitutional, judicial and electoral reforms have prevented the nation from catching up with its neighbours on the trail to EU membership.

In its annual evaluation of EU candidate international locations’ progress in direction of accession launched final October, the Fee mentioned it wanted to see additional constitutional and electoral reforms and higher alignment with the EU’s overseas coverage earlier than Bosnia’s bid could possibly be superior.

Specifically, the EU government was involved by how the Republika Srpska, one of many nation’s two territorial entities made up of largely ethnic Serbs, had advocated for a impartial stance on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Simply final month, Republika Srpska’s President Milorad Dodik held his fourth assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin since Russian troops invaded Ukraine.

But, von der Leyen assured on Tuesday that “Bosnia and Herzegovina is now absolutely aligned with our overseas and safety coverage, which is essential in these occasions of geopolitical turmoil.”

Many EU international locations, branded the so-called ‘associates of Bosnia’, have known as for Bosnia’s path to EU membership to be superior on the similar tempo as Ukraine’s. They embody Austria, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, and Slovenia.

Russia’s invasion has injected a way of renewed vitality into the European Union’s future enlargement, with the combination of Western Balkan states seen by many as essential to bolstering the bloc’s geopolitical relevance.

Responding to the announcement on Tuesday, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer mentioned on social media platform X: “Austria was and is a dedicated and powerful associate of the Western Balkan states and their European integration! I am completely happy that our effort was value it!”

The nation’s overseas minister Alexander Schallenberg mentioned the opening of talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina is a “sturdy sign” for the EU’s “integration of the Western Balkans.”

Slovenia’s overseas minister Tanja Fajon vowed to proceed to again Bosnia’s integration into the bloc.

Ought to EU leaders greenlight the Fee’s advice, Bosnia and Herzegovina can proceed into the following part of talks.

However these talks would mark simply the beginning of an extended and infrequently sophisticated means of negotiations, which may take years earlier than a rustic turns into a fully-fledged member.

The Fee can also be anticipated to current a draft negotiating framework for Ukraine and Moldova’s accession this week. That framework can even require the approval of EU leaders.