The General Affairs Council of the European Union (EU) will discuss the application of BiH for membership in the EU today and BH political leaders are optimistic that the application will be accepted.
After the adoption of the envisaged measures of the Reform Agenda, the final harmonization of the coordination mechanism and the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), which were the key preconditions, BiH is expecting acceptance of the application for EU membership today.
If the General Affairs Council of the EU gives the green light for BiH, the European Commission will immediately be in charge for preparing a questionnaire for BiH in the next few months, at which our country will answer during 2017, and probably obtain candidate status for EU.
Before today’s session, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Denis Zvizdic, was particularly optimistic, who stated earlier that the acceptance of application of BiH will represent a new level of relations between our country and the EU.
“The questionnaire is a serious thing and we will get thousands of different questions. We have started with serious preparations for implementation, adequate and timely answer to many questions at the level of the Council of Ministers of BiH. It will also be an inventory of what we have in BiH by a number of sectors. Finally, we will not wander when it comes to presenting any data after the questionnaire,” said Zvizdic.
Despite numerous internal problems, such as the announced referendum in the RS that definitely reflects a bad image of BiH, the European Union will encourage our country to continue implementing essential reforms with today’s acceptance of the application.
However, not only accepting applications for membership in the EU, which our country submitted on the 15th of February this year, does not mean much in practice, except for satisfaction and encouragement that BiH should continue the path of European integration, for which there is a consensus of all parties in BiH.
A number of EU officials have emphasized satisfaction with the progress of BiH in the implementation of obligations in the past. However, there is still a lot of work in front of BiH, and the continuation of the European path depends on intergovernmental relations that will be established after the local elections and the referendum in the RS.
(Source: S. H./Klix.ba)
