The EU Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina has launched a campaign to encourage progress on the path to the EU entitled ‘Progress is within reach’ (Napredak je nadohvat ruke). This campaign ties in with the ‘Always in the Heart of Europe’ (Oduvijek u srcu Evrope) campaign which followed the award of candidate status, including a recently published video with artist Hanna Dujmović, and aims to engage political leaders and the general public in Bosnia and Herzegovina to move forward with the reforms that would bring Bosnia and Herzegovina closer to the EU.
“The path to the EU is the most important shared strategic objective for Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have accompanied the EU’s top officials to meetings with their BiH counterparts, and since the elections last year, I have met authorities at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I will also continue travelling around BiH in the coming weeks to engage with authorities and members of the public. Our message is the same – Bosnia and Herzegovina must use the opportunity presented by candidate status to make progress with long overdue reforms. I understand that many in this country are frustrated with the lack of reform and I share this frustration. But with political will, progress is within reach. The opportunity presented by the new momentum in EU integration must not be missed,” said the Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Johann Sattler.
The political engagement across Bosnia and Herzegovina carried out by Ambassador Sattler and officials in the EU Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina is supported by a video, broadcast on TV and social media that reinforces the message to BiH citizens that Bosnia and Herzegovina is always in the heart of Europe, and also that progress is within reach.
The video features German travel writer Kathrin Numić (born Knorr), who has made Bosnia and Herzegovina her home and who is active in promoting her adopted country both online, and also through her work organising tours of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
When candidate status was awarded to Bosnia and Herzegovina it was done with the expectation and understanding that a number of steps should be taken to reinforce democracy, functionality of state institutions, rule of law, the fight against corruption and organised crime, guarantee media freedom and migration management in the country. With political will first and foremost, but also public engagement, progress is within reach.
