The Austrian Minister for European and International Affairs, Alexander Schallenberg, was in Sarajevo today with the Vice-President of the Italian Government and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, on a joint visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The European perspective of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the possible opening of accession negotiations with the European Union, with the full support of Italy and Austria, is the focus and main topic of the visit.
Schallenberg said earlier that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina have waited too long and that they deserve a prosperous future in the EU.
“This is a very important sign of Austrian-Italian support. We are the strongest pair of advocates of this region as well, but especially of Bosnia and Herzegovina. You are not only close to us, but close to our hearts. And we participate in the EUFOR Althea mission. BiH is important to us in every sense. We were one of the first to ask for the opening of negotiations,” he recalled.
Schallenberg pointed out that he hopes for a green light to open negotiations because, as he says, Bosnia and Herzegovina has made impressive progress in the previous months. In this context, he mentioned the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the agreement with Frontex.
“You have done more in the past few months than in the past few years. The question is why it took you so long. You all know and we all know that we still have work ahead of us,” said the head of Austrian diplomacy.
However, he indicated that Bosnia and Herzegovina has a positive agenda and positive results.
“The time for action is now. No political force in this country must believe that they can stay on the sidelines and that this is a process that has nothing to do with them. Any political force that thinks it can stand in the way of BiH’s European path is stealing the future of the country and its young people,” emphasized Schallenberg.
He mentioned that, based on data from the World Bank, as many as 44 percent of Bosnians and Herzegovina live outside the country.
“In Austria, we profited from that. That’s why it’s important to stop the brain drain. Anyone who thinks they can stand in the way of that is playing with fire and playing with the future of this country. You need to close ranks in this country and go in the same direction, that’s the key message this visit. It’s time to get down to work,” he claims.
He states that what he is saying is not altruism or self-interest.
“We are at the stage when the war has returned to Europe again. This is a critical moment of geopolitical security. We are here to say that we must create the concept of stability and security. The only way to achieve this is for all the countries of the Western Balkans to be members of the European Union,” he said, Klix.ba reports.
