By starting the negotiations on the Agreement with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina fulfilled another of their obligations on the European road today.
Along with the representatives of the BiH team for negotiations on the cooperation agreement with FRONTEX, the meeting that officially started this process was attended by the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina Nenad Nešić and the Deputy Director General for Internal Affairs at the European Commission Oliver Onidi.
After the establishment of operational cooperation with EUROPOL, this agreement is the next important step for BiH in the integration into the common European security area, the Ministry of Security of BiH announced.
“Today we will start a process that will not mean cooperation with a single European institution for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but a confirmation that we are part of common and collective European security. I want to emphasize that our activities are aimed at eliminating threats and risks, primarily from organized crime that threatens development and economic stability of BiH, and increasing security for the citizens of BiH. FRONTEX will add a new dimension in this regard, strengthening our borders and their impermeability to security threats and organized crime in this dynamic time of migration as a serious source of all kinds of risks,” said Nešić.
He emphasized that FRONTEX is a confirmation that BiH is a complicated country only when it needs an excuse not to do something, and that it is very functional and possible within its constitutional framework and the framework of the Dayton Agreement when they want to move things forward.
Nešić wished the negotiating teams to effectively bring this work to an end, so that BiH would cease to be the only country in the Western Balkans that does not cooperate with FRONTEX.
The Deputy General Director for Internal Affairs at the European Commission, Oliver Onidi, reminded that last year BiH made a big step by establishing full operational cooperation with EUROPOL, and that negotiations on cooperation with FRONTEX are also ahead of us.
He emphasized that in a situation where there is an exceptional pressure of illegal migration, police cooperation and joint action in guarding and controlling borders is extremely important.
