The formation of government in BiH cannot take a year or year and a half, because it is far below any European standards, said the former High Representative to BiH, Wolfgang Petritsch during an interview with the media yesterday at the Austrian Embassy in Sarajevo which was hosted by the Austrian Ambassador to BiH Martin Pammer.
The meeting was also attended by the Political Director of the Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria Jan Kickert and an official from the ministry Johhan Slatter.
The need for urgent formation of government, Petritsch thinks, should be transferred to the politicians who are elected and that should be done through the media and civil society.
“Time is literally money, so I hope that the future of BiH will be more dynamic in terms of the formation of the government. This is a prerequisite for BiH to enter into any meaningful dialogue with the EU countries and partners of the ’Berlin Process’,” said Petritsch.
He thinks that during his mandate here was more hope and engagement of politicians and that politics was taken more seriously than in the last four years.
“However, now we have clearer and more concrete ideas about what has worked well over the last 20 years, and what has not. Therefore we can conclude that what worked well did not work well enough and that we should work even more on that, and what did not work needs to be corrected,” said Petritsch.
He points out that there is no doubt that the Western Balkans is part of Europe, but it is also clear that one cannot just “enter” the EU because the country would have no instruments, mechanisms and qualifications to be an active participant in the EU.
“This is what everyone demanding from future EU Member States, to be able to play a role in the EU, and this role is still far from BiH,” Petritsch said.
(Source: Fena)
