After a several month-long discussions and a brief stay in the countries of the Western Balkans, the International Relations Committee of the House of Lords of UK has published a report entitled “The United Kingdom and the Future of the Western Balkans”, in which are presented conclusions and their view on the state in the Balkans.
Lords have expressed great concern with the fall of support for the progress of BiH towards the EU and NATO.
“We were told in BiH that the support to NATO membership was high in the FBiH, but not in the RS. Although the membership represents a formal commitment of this country, it is still a subject of division. This is especially noted through the proclamation that was adopted by the National Assembly of the RS on October 17, 2017. This division caused a slowdown in the progress that represents one of the main elements determined by NATO before they could join the MAP: the registration of immovable military property. Sixty-three of them remained unregistered or registered on Yugoslavia, and there are still disputes on whether they should be registered on one of the entities or state. According to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Josip Brkic, there is no “Plan B” for NATO. We also received the information that although most politicians are advocating EU membership, they admit that the fight against corruption, and the establishment of free judiciary and the rule of law, could reduce the power they currently possess,” as stated in this report.
Lords also advocate for the United Kingdom to play an active role in the Western Balkans in the upcoming period and after leaving the EU.
Lords of the UK are also requesting to continue with the promotion of values and institutional standards of the EU that the Western Balkans should reach.
“General Sir Michael Rose said that in case that the entity of the RS voted for independence from BiH “we would end up with a Croatian element that would join Croatia, and Europe would have to preserve a small, dysfunctional Muslim state in the middle.” He described it as “unimaginable.” Some politicians tried to make a “third entity” with the Croat majority in Bosnia. Dragan Covic, the president of HDZ in BiH, noted that the existing two entity system means that Bosnian Croats do not have basic rights and they are under the threat of assimilation within the FBiH (one of the two entities in BiH),” as stated in the report.
(Source: N1)
