European Union members should open talks with Bosnia on joining, the EU's executive branch says
The European Union’s executive arm says it will recommend that member countries open accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina
BRUSSELS — The European Union's executive arm will recommend that member countries open membership negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday, despite lingering ethnic divisions in the Western Balkan country.
Bosnia-Herzegovina is among six nations from the region — the others are Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia — who are at different stages of the EU accession process following a period of wars and crises in the 1990s.
Their memberships have been stalled for years. But after Russia’s war on Ukraine, EU officials are more keen on trying to lure them away from the Kremlin's influence.
“We have realized that it is not enough to just wait for the Western Balkans to move closer to us,” von der Leyen told EU lawmakers on Tuesday. “It is not enough to say that the door is open. We must also take responsibility, and support their path towards our Union in any possible way.”
EU leaders are expected to discuss the European Commission’s recommendation at a summit scheduled in Brussels next week.
The head of Bosnia’s Council of Ministers, which acts as the country’s government, Borjana Kristo, expressed hope that EU member states will greenlight the opening of accession talks. Kristo promised Bosnia will press on with reforms.
“What we did so far was sufficient (for the recommendation), but we will keep on working,” she said. “It is our obligation to keep on working.”
There is no guarantee that member states will endorse the recommendation as separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who is pro-Russia, continues
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