Twenty-seven gives the green light to EU accession talks with Bosnia

Leaders of European Union countries on Thursday gave the green light to start accession talks with Bosnia-Herzegovina, which will begin only after the Balkan country undertakes a certain number of reforms. “Congratulations! Your place in our European family. Today’s decision is a major step in your journey to the EU. Now the hard work must continue”President of the European Council Charles Michel announced on the X Network.

The decision, taken by the Twenty-seven at a summit meeting in Brussels, is the latest in a movement towards EU enlargement that has strengthened since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “Based on the Commission’s recommendation of 12 March 2024, the European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

Indicates a joint declaration adopted by the leaders.

Invited later “The Commission will draw up a negotiating framework with a view to its adoption by the (EU) Council when all appropriate measures set out in the Commission Recommendation of 12 October 2022 have been taken”. Discussions can only begin after all member state governments have agreed to the framework for these negotiations.

“Effective Progress”

Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country of 3.5 million inhabitants, obtained candidate status in 2022 after a favorable opinion of the Commission, which identified 14. “Essential Priorities” For updates. These include, in particular, improving the functioning of central institutions, strengthening the rule of law and fundamental rights, and fighting corruption and organized crime in this country, one of the poorest in Europe. Bosnia recently started negotiations for a cooperation agreement with the European border guard agency Frontex, its parliament adopted an anti-money laundering law demanded by Brussels, as well as a law on preventing conflicts of interest in institutions. But there is still no agreement on the reform of the courts and the electoral law.

Bosnia remains deeply divided after the intercommunal conflict that devastated the former Yugoslav republic and killed more than 100,000 people. Nearly thirty years after the Dayton Accords that ended the conflict in 1995, the country is divided into two: a Serbian entity, Republika Srpska (RS), regularly accused of playing into Moscow’s hands in the region, and another Croat-Bosnian, whose leaders want the country Join NATO. The country is facing a political crisis due to separatist threats from Bosnian Serbs.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the recommendation to open accession talks with the country in March. “Effective Progress”

. She especially emphasized that it was now “perfectly aligned” On EU Foreign and Security Policy, “What’s Crucial in These Geopolitically Troubled Times”. The opening of negotiations is a step in a process that usually takes several years before engagement. Such accession talks have also been opened with Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia.