“I am truly impressed by the quality of the work done by BiH officials,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday after Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) officials handed him the answered EC Questionnaire here.
At the solemn ceremony, the Chairman of BiH Presidency Dragan Covic and Chairman of BiH Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic have officially handed the answered EU accession questionnaire to Juncker in the building of BiH Presidency in capital Sarajevo.
Juncker pointed out on the tremendous number of BiH officials who were working on the documentation and 35 working groups that were working on the preparatory work.
“I am truly impressed on the quality of the work done by BiH officials,” Juncker emphasized at the opening speech.
“Answering on 3 000 questions in a very short period of 6 months is an excellent job and I congratulate to officials that were participating in this very demanding job,” Juncker added.
The essence of the responses is more important than the date when BiH will enter the EU, Juncker said, adding that he could not tell the exact day when BiH will get a candidate status. He announced that EC will analyze the answers and determine whether additional questions are needed.
“We will go step by step; the core is more important than the date. This is a serious job, the answers should be serious and we will do everything to continue being friendly,” Juncker concluded his speech at the building of BiH Presidency.
Covic recalled that BiH bodies worked 7 months on the preparation of responses for establishing a coordination mechanism and 6 months in answering 1 000 pages and more than 3 000 of EC Questionnaire.
“Participation of more than 1 000 state officials in answering of the EC questionnaire is a proof that our every step towards the EU, to which we are dedicated as our only path, will be easier and done in a more efficient and faster way in future,” Covic said.
The Questionnaire contains 3242 questions, of which 516 relate to political criteria, 74 to economic criteria and 2652 to the acquis, grouped into 33 chapters.
On Feb. 15, 2016, BiH formally submitted its application to join the EU, which was accepted on Sept. 20, 2016. Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn handed the EU questionnaire to the BiH government on the country’s readiness to join the bloc on Dec. 9, 2016.
(Source: ST, photo: FENA)
