The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has completed a process of responding to additional 655 questions from the European Commission’s Questionnaire, was confirmed by BiH’s Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic here on Monday.
During the press conference, Zvizdic emphasized that, by answering the additional questions, BiH fulfilled the official requirements of the European Commission for the Preparation of Opinion on country’s application for membership in the European Union (EU).
Zvizdic added that he expects authorities in the EU to understand the importance for the country to get the candidate status, and the great effort and progress that the country has made in the last four years.
“This would be the best and most positive message for BiH citizens, investors and youth. I expect we will receive such a message during this year,” Zvizdic said.
He explained that the country has adopted all the strategies on the list of the EU agenda prepared for BiH and now it is of the exceptional importance for country to get the positive response and candidate status.
The majority of additional questions, a total of 106, refer to the political criteria, they are followed by 43 questions in social policy and employment, 38 questions in transport policy, 36 injustice, freedom and security and 33 in the economic criteria.
He added that BiH has encountered a stalemate during several months before Oct.2018, since there were preparations for the general elections in the country.
On Feb.28, 2018, BiH handed the answered EU accession questionnaire with total of 3,242 questions to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, after which the EC sent additional 655 questions. A total of 3,897 questions were answered, and all responses were contained in 23,000 pages, and 1,500 civil servants divided into 35 groups have worked on answering the questions.
For the end, Zvizdic said that Bosnia and Herzegovina will not become a collection center for migrants in the Western Balkans and any kind of financial assistance that would be directed to that purpose will not be accepted, the BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Denis Zvizdić told reporters today in Sarajevo.
He recalled that for now, BiH has six centers in which it can accommodate a maximum of 4,500 migrants, and that is the number that can be dealt with and managed by the centers, bearing in mind the fact that for BiH, the most important issue is to preserve security.
He noted that BiH will continue to treat migrants on the basis of three basic principles, among which is humane way of dealing with migrants while respecting international and domestic laws regulating this area.
