“There will be no accelerated accession to the European Union, neither for Bosnia and Herzegovina or any of the Western Balkan countries, nor for Ukraine,” said Adi Cerimagic, an analyst with the European Stability Initiative. in Ukraine could speed up BiH’s EU accession.
The reason for that, he explains, is that deep reforms, harmonization with the standards and laws of the European Union are needed for membership in the European Union, and even the most developed countries that did that took four to six years to go through that process.
“What is being talked about now when some higher circles are discussing the attitude towards the Western Balkans, but also the attitude towards the applications for membership of the three Eastern European countries, is whether the EU member states can reach a political agreement to expand to the Western Balkans.” and then to other countries, because in the last few years the situation is such that there is no such agreement between the member states. We saw this best in the example of Northern Macedonia, which – regardless of the fact that it set out to deal with the regime of the previous prime minister, which improved its relations with its neighbors, with the Albanian national minority – did not progress towards EU membership, “said Cerimagic.
Numerous international officials have described Milorad Dodik as the bearer of secessionist policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On Tuesday, the European Union will consider sanctions against Dodik. Cerimagic reminds that in November last year, Germany launched an initiative with the previous government to discuss individual sanctions for Milorad Dodik, but for politicians in the ruling coalition in RS who started the process of collapsing the institutional and constitutional framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Last month, we learned that a number of countries, led by Hungary and Croatia, had objections to the possibility of such sanctions, with the desire to give talks a chance. All this that has happened to Ukraine has completely dramatically changed the paradigm of the European Union’s policy, and in that sense, the mood among the member states needs to be re-examined. Individual sanctions will not be enough at this time.
A clear message from the European Union is needed that any attempt to collapse Bosnia and Herzegovina or change the borders of any of the Western Balkan countries will meet with a response similar to or even stronger than that of the Russian Federation. That means complete isolation and complete internal collapse, because with only one such strong message, the European Union can start to take positions and be heard and taken as a serious actor in the countries of the Western Balkans “, notes Cerimagic.
When it comes to claims that Moscow has an interest in destabilizing the Western Balkans region, Cerimagic points out that its goal at the moment is to change the entire European security architecture. In addition to the war in Ukraine, Moscow would employ Western actors by opening new processes in countries such as, above all, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Putin alone cannot do that and he needs actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the region who will do it for him. That is why messages from the European Union and the West are now extremely important, concluded Cerimagic.
Source: Federalna
