Director of the Directorate for European Integration (DEI) BiH Elvira Habota stated that the results of the Public Opinion Survey for 2026, conducted by the DEI on citizens’ attitudes towards the membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European Union, show that the support of citizens still remains high. It is 74.4 percent, which is 4.5 percent more than last year.
Habota states that it is very important for citizens to be informed and educated about the accession process and about the future membership itself, and to see what it actually means in practice.
- The Directorate’s research shows that citizens are most interested in the concrete effects of European integration on their daily lives, the possibilities of using the financial aid of the European Union, then the reforms that Bosnia and Herzegovina should implement, and the advantages and costs of membership in the European Union – said the director of DEI.
On the other hand, media monitoring, which is also carried out by the Directorate on a semi-annual basis, on a sample of 24 media, shows that European integration is most often reported through the prism of daily politics.
- This is one of the reasons why we want to further develop a partnership relationship with the media. The exchange of experiences of BiH journalists with correspondents from Brussels, which we organized in cooperation with the Embassy of France in BiH, is one of the steps in that direction – said Habota during the meeting of journalists from BiH with RTCG and RTS correspondents from Brussels, which was held at the end of the week in Sarajevo.
Our focus is the media, especially strengthening the capacity of the media to report on the European Union and the process of European integration, as well as their readiness to use the financial aid of the European Union – added Habota.
She said that they also traditionally continue to award the journalistic award for the best journalistic story related to the accession process, and since May of this year, a database of success stories has been established on the website of the Directorate for European Integration, which contains data on 280 projects of territorial cooperation in more than 300 locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Directorate for European Integration, in cooperation with the Embassy of France in BiH, organized a meeting of journalists from BiH with correspondents from Brussels – RTCG correspondent Ivan Mijanović and RTS correspondent Dušan Gajić in Sarajevo. It was an opportunity for journalists to exchange experiences on reporting on the EU and the accession process.
The participants were addressed at the beginning by the director of DEI Elvira Habota and the deputy ambassador of France in BiH Stéphane Maicon, and the journalists Ivan Mijanović and Dušan Gajić spoke about the experiences of reporting from EU institutions.
This was also an opportunity to present the results of the Public Opinion Survey for 2026, which show that BiH citizens are most often informed about European integration via the Internet and television, and they are most interested in the concrete effects of European integration on everyday life and the possibility of using EU financial aid.
The meeting was an opportunity to exchange knowledge, establish new professional contacts and strengthen cooperation between the Directorate and the media in informing citizens about the process of European integration.
RTCG correspondent from Brussels, journalist Ivan Mijanović expressed his satisfaction with his arrival in Sarajevo, where during the conversation with his colleagues from Bosnia and Herzegovina he had the opportunity to present what reporting on the policies of the European Union looks like from the perspective of a European correspondent.
- We talked about all the challenges faced by Brussels correspondents, but on the other hand, also about those topics that interest journalists from BiH when it comes to covering events related to the European agenda, as well as the progress of our countries on the way to the European Union – stated Mijanović.
- He added that this meeting also discussed the integration of Montenegro as the most advanced country in this process.
It was my pleasure to share with my colleagues from the region the most recent experiences of our country regarding the negotiation process that Montenegro has done up to this moment, as well as what awaits Montenegro in the upcoming period of accession to the European Union, since we know that Montenegro’s self-proclaimed goal is to finish the negotiations by the end of this year in order to become a full member, the 28th member of the European Union, by 2028 – said Mijanović.
He assessed that the role of the media in the process of European integration is extremely important, because the media are actually the ones who have to translate all that bureaucratic, extremely complicated Brussels jargon into the language of ordinary citizens.
That is why I believe that journalists who deal with this process should show a certain type of, first of all, self-understanding, that they themselves understand this process, in order to convey it to the viewers, listeners or consumers of our media content in a quality way – said Mijanović.
