The security architecture today seems more complex than ever, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also around the world. However, if the European defense system is truly strengthened as an integral part of NATO and within the European Union, positive changes and progress are possible.
This was stated at the international conference “Regional Cooperation in Europe and Transatlantic Relations: Opportunities and Challenges” organized by the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Sarajevo.
The conference brings together domestic and international officials, ambassadors, military and security experts, with the aim of discussing the key challenges and opportunities of regional and transatlantic cooperation in a time of growing geopolitical tensions.
Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Sarajevo, Sead Turčalo, claims that BiH is at an interesting turning point in transatlantic relations.
“On the one hand, the US is reconsidering its place in the European security architecture, and on the other hand, we have the EU, which needs to take more responsibility for its security,” he said.
He pointed out that NATO has set ambitious defense goals in terms of increasing defense spending by up to five percent, and that the conference participants will consider over the next two days how this is reflected in two regions, the Western Balkans and the Nordic region, since two countries, Finland and Sweden, have recently become NATO members and have changed the geopolitical dynamics.
Professor at the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Political Science Nedžma Džananović Miraščija said that today’s security architecture seems more complex than ever, not only for Bosnia and Herzegovina but for all countries, but if the European defense system is truly strengthened as a European component of NATO, and in the context of the European Union, then positive changes and developments can be expected.
She recalled that the last NATO summit, held in The Hague, was the summit that preserved NATO and the value of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Charter.
“The United States of America remains committed to NATO, as a strong guarantor of the implementation of Article 5. What we should expect, not only us, but again the entire European component, from the summit to be held in Turkey, is for this European component to truly consolidate, to see the results of that consolidation and to hope that NATO will move more boldly towards an enlargement that could include Bosnia and Herzegovina. And not only could, but must”, she emphasized.
If BiH allows Russian influence to be decisive and to stand in the way of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s membership in NATO, believes Džananović Miraščija, then this is a dangerous precedent.
“Because we are no longer talking about Ukraine, which is at war and Russian red lines regarding Ukrainian membership, but about a region that is very far from Ukraine, a region that is in the Balkans, where only Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are the bastions that have remained outside NATO”, she concluded.
Over the course of two days, participants will discuss through panels, discussions, and closed-door sessions: European security cooperation at a crossroads, with a focus on the Western Balkans and the Nordic region, NATO’s role in regional security, and multi-layered approaches to security challenges in Europe and the transatlantic space.
Photo: Fena news agency
