Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina are participating in the Brdo-Brijuni Process Leaders’ Summit, which is taking place in Durres, Albania. The theme of the summit is “Common Interests, Shared Commitment for a Shared Future: Together Towards the EU”.
The Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić, addressed the summit participants and emphasized that European integration remains the path and goal of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, “regardless of various disappointments”.
“We have more or less permanent topics for discussion: European integration, the Growth Plan, youth and the exodus of people, regional cooperation and regional security. I would like to reiterate that European integration remains our path and goal, regardless of various disappointments. The disappointments are mutual, both on the European and our side. It seems that for some time now the EU and we in the Western Balkans have often been operating “on different frequencies”. The EU says it wants us to join, we say we want the same, but in reality it seems that we are talking and thinking about completely different things,” Komšić said.
The EU and the Western Balkans often operate “on different frequencies.”
As he pointed out in his address, the generation from our region that set out on the path to European integration with hope at the beginning of this century is already approaching the end of its working life. Two and a half decades later, enthusiasm has replaced the fatigue of an entire generation, Komšić believes.
“Those who long ago stopped accepting small steps in social reforms as something normal, reforms that are necessary and happen slowly or not at all, are caught in the so-called ‘brain drain,'” Komšić warns.
According to him, this cannot be stopped by anything other than changing policies, implementing reforms and changing relations among ourselves, but also by creating a stable region.
“A stable region, committed to social changes and reforms, reforms that can create security. “A region in which there are no territorial claims, no rattling of weapons, no interference in the internal affairs of other states, no cheap populism. An unstable region is a source of insecurity, and as such necessarily leads to depopulation and economic decline,” Komšić said in his address.
Speaking about regional cooperation, Komšić emphasizes that it is not possible without a real consensus.
“There is no point in talking about declarative aspirations towards regional cooperation and European integration without a real political consensus on regional cooperation, without finding certain common economic denominators and leaving behind political practices from the past, practices that lead nowhere,” said Komšić.
The Chairman of the Presidency of BiH emphasizes that there is nothing controversial in the proposed declaration, that is, nothing about which there is no consensus. He also proposed the next steps, including opening discussions on joint economic projects.
“But the time is coming when we will have to provide answers to difficult questions in this format as well. I suggest that we consider opening discussions on possible joint economic projects that cross the borders of our countries as a start. Energy projects are needed by all of us and can represent the beginning of such a practice. There is interest both on our part and on the part of potential partners outside our region,” concluded Komšić in his address at the Brdo-Brijuni Summit in Durres.
