Six member countries of NATO and the EU called on Wednesday, at the initiative of Croatia, to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina for membership in the Union by the end of this year.
The foreign ministers of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO ministerial meeting at the Croatian Permanent Mission to express their firm support for Bosnia and Herzegovina on its European path.
The same six countries and Austria, which is not a member of NATO, sent a joint letter a little over a month ago to the EU’s high representative for foreign and security policy, Josep Borrell, in which they also requested the opening of accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We emphasize the political necessity to ensure the opening of accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina by the end of this year,” said the joint statement after the meeting of the six ministers.
Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman said that the meeting was held in order to draw additional attention and emphasize the strategic importance of opening accession negotiations with BiH for the sake of the stability and security of the European continent.
“In the current geopolitical context, any delay in the start of accession negotiations could further increase instability in the region and result in the loss of positive momentum,” the statement added.
It is also emphasized that enlargement “is not a choice among candidate countries, but a common strategic interest that will bring much-needed stability and security to the European continent.”
Grlić Radman said that any other decision by the heads of state or government of the EU member states at the summit on December 14 and 15 would be bad for stability and security and that no one would profit from it.
“On the contrary, anti-European and anti-Western politicians would benefit, and I hope that there are few of them,” Grlić Radman said.
He also added that he welcomes the efforts of the BiH Council of Ministers, chairperson Borjana Krišto and Minister of Foreign Affairs Elvedin Konaković, who are working to speed up reforms and adopt as many laws as possible, which are also a condition for opening negotiations.
On November 8, the European Commission published a report on the progress of the candidate countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina received a conditional recommendation, that is, the Commission recommended the opening of accession negotiations when it achieves a sufficient degree of compliance with the required criteria.
The final decision requires the unanimous support of all heads of state or government of the member states, Fena reports.
