Bosnia and Herzegovina should begin negotiations on EU accession, and the European Commission is expected to announce it on Tuesday, paving the way for the country to finally become a member of the Union, Politico magazine has learned.
The European Union granted Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status in December 2022, and the European Commission will now give a positive recommendation for the start of official accession negotiations, two European officials and one EU diplomat told Politico.
Ukraine and Moldova should also take a step further in the enlargement process.
On Tuesday, the European Commission will propose the so-called negotiation frameworks that determine the guidelines and fundamental principles of their accession negotiations. Then it is up to the EU countries to discuss those texts.
Diplomats and EU officials warn that a deal between the 27 European countries – which is needed to officially start negotiations – is unlikely to happen before European elections in June.
For some EU countries, including Austria, it was vital that progress in Ukraine and Moldova go hand in hand with progress in the future accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The next step now is for EU leaders to discuss the recommendation for BiH at their meeting in Brussels next week.
Ahead of the announcement, the foreign ministers of Austria, Italy and Germany visited Sarajevo last week to support the opening of accession negotiations.
The European Commission was also due to present a document on how to internally prepare the bloc for future enlargement. But this document, which was originally planned for February 27, has now been postponed to March 20, according to the latest European Commission agenda seen by Politico.
