Secretary-General of the European Movement in BiH, Haris Plakalo, told FENA today that according to the information he has from Brussels, Bosnia and Herzegovina will most likely receive candidate status at the European Council meeting next week in Brussels.
“It is most likely that Bosnia and Herzegovina will receive candidate status at the European Council meeting next week in Brussels. This is currently the most important event for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which certainly has its significance, but also the weight and obligation to start with reforms, the adoption of key laws as soon as possible, as well as to start the accelerated process of European integration, which in the past period was at a standstill due to very complex political relations within BiH,” said Plakalo.
He notes that candidate status implies the opening of a much larger number of EU funds, but also maps Bosnia and Herzegovina as a credible and reliable partner for EU membership.
However, Plakalo points out that Bosnia and Herzegovina no longer has the luxury of delaying the implementation of important laws, reforms and strategies.
“It is necessary to establish all levels of government in BiH as soon as possible and start implementing the 14 priorities, as well as those eight points that were derived from those priorities as less demanding and were presented to BiH in October, when the European Commission recommended the granting of conditional candidate status to the European Council, with the expectation that BiH authorities will fulfill all these conditions more quickly from the moment of the recommendation. Therefore, the full capacity to fulfill all these requirements is expected after the constituent sessions of the new cantonal and entity governments, and especially the Council of Ministers of BiH,” Secretary-General of the European Movement in BiH, Haris Plakalo, pointed out in an interview with FENA.
