Representatives of the ruling coalition in Bosnia and Herzegovina – BiH (the Social Democratic Party – SDP, Our Party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats – SNSD and the Croatian Democratic Union of BiH) are satisfied with the report of the European Commission, which states that “BiH must show results in order to start negotiations with the European Union (EU).”
The president of SDP political party, Nermin Niksic, stated on his profile on the X network that “the positive signals from the EU are a confirmation of the correctness of our policy of compromise and talks”.
His party colleague, Sasa Magazinovic, previously announced on his Facebook profile that the ruling coalition “will try to overcome obstacles on the way to the EU”.
Head of Diplomacy: This will encourage investors
Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konakovic assessed that the recommendation, which has some conditions, is a very important matter.
“A great message for BiH, especially because we received the candidate status undeservedly because it was due to events in Europe, and the decision on conditional recommendation is actually a process that came to BiH very quickly. The conditions are not new, they are those from the priorities that we did not have a chance to fulfill,” said Konakovic at the press conference.
SNSD: The matter has moved from a standstill
SNSD said that the current government has “moved BiH‘s path towards the EU from a standstill”.
Kojovic: A step forward
For Predrag Kojovic from Our Party, the EC report is “a big step forward towards the EU“.
What is fulfilled?
In July 2020, the BiH Election Law was amended, which made it possible to hold local elections in Mostar on December 20th, 2020, for the first time since 2008, when they were last held. In October 2019, the Constitutional Court of BiH abolished the provision of the Constitution of the Republika Srpska (RS) on the existence of the death penalty.
According to the Stabilization and Association Agreement, which was signed in 2008 and entered into force in 2015, BiHshould have developed a program for the adoption of EU acquis (legislation), i.e. an integration program, and in 2020, BiHauthorities determined the methodology for the development of that program.
The Parliamentary Committee for Stabilization and Association was established in 2015, also as a body within the Stabilization and Association Agreement. However, it did not function since the rules of procedure for its work were never adopted, because some delegates from BiH in that committee insisted on the inclusion of provisions on the ethnic principle of voting, which, according to the European Commission, is not in accordance with European standards, Slobodna Evropa reports.
E.Dz.
