The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen supports the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina and all the countries of the Western Balkans, which she confirmed at yesterday’s meeting with the Chairman and members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zeljko Komsic, Sefik Dzaferovic and Milorad Dodik.
Dzaferovic told reporters in Sarajevo that it was an important meeting with the president, who is visiting BiH for the first time.
“Today, it was repeated and we thanked her for that because we have a sincere friend who wants BiH to meet the conditions and get candidate status for membership in the European Union, and now it is up to us to fulfill 14 priorities set before BiH by the European Commission,” said Dzaferovic.
Strong economic support was repeated today, which is reflected in the economic-investment plan.
Dzaferovic says that Von der Leyen announced that he would examine what has been done so far regarding the agreements signed on November 10 last year in Sofia at the summit organized within the Berlin Process, which envisage the common market of the Western Balkans since new initiatives have emerged, such as the Open Balkans Initiative, which now includes Albania, Serbia and Northern Macedonia.
He reminded that an initiative called “Mini Schengen” was launched two years ago, but after that a summit was held in Sofia at which policies for connecting the countries of the Western Balkans were envisaged, but now new initiatives are emerging again.
Dzaferovic says that there was no discussion about the current blockade of the work of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions, adding that Von der Leyen is certainly aware of the situation in BiH after the decision of political leaders from the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska to block the work of institutions due to the imposition of amendments to the BiH Criminal Code that prohibit genocide denial and glorification of war criminals.
He added that Bosnia and Herzegovina is expected to solve the problems and start working with the Presidency of BiH and the Council of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, emphasizing that all blockades are unacceptable.
