Brussels hedged from statements made by the Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic about the alleged radicalization of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and portraying our country as a security threat to the European Union. The European Commission stated that violent extremism and radicalization is a threat to both the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans, as well as that BiH is a partner in the battle against radicalism.
We contacted the European Commission regarding the statements made by Grabar-Kiratovic, asking them if her statements are the official stances of the EU, whether BiH is a security threat to the EU, and whether she has information about 10,000 radicalized people in BiH.
The spokesperson of the European Commission Maja Kocijancic answered that the Council of the European Union concluded in June of this year that security in the Western Balkans countries and the fight against terrorism, radicalism and violent extremism clear priorities of the EU.
The partnership with our country is a part of the global effort to prevent radicalization and the fight against terrorism, which was stated by High Representative Federica Mogherini at an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers on September 8th in Tallinn.
“The internal security of the EU and the security of our external partners, including BiH, has never been this interconnected. Terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization is a threat to both the EU and the countries of the Western Balkans,” Kocijancic said for Klix.ba.
She reminded us that the EU organized a high-level mission for BiH regarding anti-terrorism and the fight against violent extremism. As she says, that was an important and concrete exercise to support and check the steps that BiH has undertaken to solve those problems.
As a part of the enlarged cooperation, BiH and Europol will cooperate more and further develop an efficient method to prevent violent extremism, which the EU will continue to follow the results which the country achieves.
“BiH is our partner. What’s more, the EU helps BiH and the other partners in the region in the realization of the Initiative for the fight against terrorism on the Western Balkans, which was adopted in December of 2015 and which has become a key tool for cooperation,” Kocijancic said.
She added that the EU assists with the realization of the WBCTi with a 3 million Euro project to improve cooperation and cooperation in prevention and the fight against violent extremism. Various actions to increase consciousness about radicalization have been organized. This project functions in accordance with the Radicalization Awareness Network of the EU.
We also contacted EUFOR regarding the Croatian president’s statements and they told us that the BiH authorities have the official information. In that context, it’s interesting that there is a large discrepancy regarding the information of the BiH authorities and those of Kolinda Grabar-Kiratovic, considering that BiH authorities say that there are far fewer radicals.
(Source: Klix.ba)
