Next week, the Council of the European Union (EU) should consider the confirmation and the granting of candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Although it was said that some countries could block the process, it seems that this will not be the case.
One of the countries that was considered to possibly block the process of granting the candidate status was the Netherlands. However, it seems that this will not be the case.
Namely, before the EU Council session, the Netherlands referred to the decision of the European Commission to propose the granting of candidate status to BiH.
”The Commission welcomes the continuation of the dialogue between the EU and BiH after the months-long blockade caused by Republika Srpska (RS). BiH has also improved its alignment with the CFSP (81%) and, according to the European Commission, has taken steps in migration management and cooperation with Europol and Eurojust. The Commission concludes that no solutions have been found that would allow the constitutional and electoral reforms to be urgently completed in order to bring the Constitution and electoral law of BiH into line with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In addition, the Commission states that the deliberate blocking of the political process in the entity RS continued in the spring and that at the entity level, the leaders of the RS took steps to withdraw from the state institutions of BiH and build parallel structures. This seriously hampered the reform process,” the Netherlands stated.
The Netherlands’ position
”The Government shares the Commission’s analysis that BiH did not take significant steps in implementing the 14 reform priorities from the 2019 opinion during the reporting period. The blockade of state institutions by parties in RS, which lasted until the spring of 2022, increased instability in the country. The elections were held on October 2nd. Dutch observers were present. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) observation mission stated in its first report that the elections were conducted in an orderly and competitive manner, but were marked by distrust in public institutions and divisive rhetoric. The government regrets that, despite the negotiations led by the EU and the United States (U.S.), the leaders failed to reach an agreement on the implementation of the judgments of the ECHR. Therefore, there are still concerns about ethnic divisions in the BiH political system and the equality of citizens,” they added.
Moreover, the Government of the Netherlands also appreciates the Commission’s observation that BiH lags behind in implementing the recommendations of international human rights bodies and that challenges to basic rights remain.
At the end of the explanation, it was stated that BiH belongs to the European family.
”At the same time, the Government recognizes the importance of binding the countries of the Western Balkans to the EU and points out that BiH is part of the European family. The Commission’s recommendation is clearly motivated by geopolitical challenges, especially the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Commission called EU enlargement a geostrategic investment and emphasized the commitment that BiH belongs to the European family. By granting candidate status to a country, the formation of a new government can be encouraged and a political impasse can be avoided. Granting candidate country status to BiH has no legal or operational consequences,” the Government of the Netherlands concluded, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
