How much will the course to the right, which Europe could take after the elections for the European Parliament, affect the Balkans, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina itself? Will BiH’s position on the European road change now, or will we see a similar policy on the issue of enlargement in the coming period?
When it comes to the relationship of the European Union’s policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the elections for the European Parliament, the question arises, how will the results of the elections be reflected in the further relationship of the European Union towards Bosnia and Herzegovina?
SEAD TURČALO, Dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo
“Bosnia and Herzegovina will be affected to the extent that we will not be at the top of the agenda, especially bearing in mind that in Germany and France there was, let’s say, a defeat or a very bad result of the ruling coalition. In France, the president has already dissolved the parliament In essence, the focus will be on these two most important EU countries, some of its internal relations, and, of course, the focus will be on the formation of the European Commission and the distribution of functions.”
LEJLA RAMIĆ-MESIHOVIĆ, professor of international relations
“One greater expectation from the elected people is that they do a better job of controlling the enlargement process, that they question every step more, the quality of the steps that the candidate countries take towards the European Union. We won’t be able to behave like this for a long time, so there will be less and less looking through the fingers, there will be and geopolitics less and less. Now Europe is turning more and more to itself, that is, the member countries look first at their own interests. We have to realize that we are not the center of anything, and not the universe, as we behave.”
What, in fact, is the biggest unknown after these elections?
GORAN ŽERAVČIĆ, expert in European integration
“The biggest unknown, which will largely determine the composition of the majority, are these independent candidates. Everything here, in fact, is a question of whether Europe will be built in the future according to the principle of sovereignty, a community of nations, or whether a federal Europe will be built, where really then be that possibility and the veto and the decision-making process.”
Will changes in EU policy towards the countries of the Western Balkans also depend on who is in power in which country, and who will make up the new European Commission?
PAVLE MIJOVIĆ, philosophy professor and columnist
“Nevertheless, I think that this next mandate, the European Commission and the European Parliament will have to better recognize the needs of the people on the ground, in order to, in a way, tear them out of that carousel of the right.”
BODO WEBER, political analyst
“Unfortunately, the dynamics that we have seen in the last two years remain, that despite the big announcements that the enlargement policy will rise from early marginal topics within the European Union to a priority, that this did not lead to a strategic reversal of the EU enlargement policy, especially towards the countries of the Western Balkans. I’m not sure we’ll see a much-needed strategic reversal of EU policy towards the region, that remains to be seen.”
In the coming period, it is expected that the European leaders will begin the procedure of appointing the most important positions in the European Union, among which the three most important are: the President of the European Commission, the President of the European Council and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a candidate country, the most important thing will be who will be appointed as the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, BHRT writes.
