EU 27 agree to give Bosnia and Herzegovina EU candidate status

The Member States of the European Union have agreed on Wednesday to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of a candidate to join the European bloc, thus recognizing the community perspective of Sarajevo, several diplomatic sources have confirmed to Europa Press.

This decision was reached within the framework of the meeting of the European Affairs ministers in Brussels and is expected to be endorsed at the EU leaders' summit this Thursday. The recommendation follows the guidance of the European Commission, which issued its favorable opinion last October, and is part of the efforts to revitalize the Enlargement policy after the Russian war against Ukraine.

The opinion from Brussels is conditional on compliance with far-reaching reforms in justice and the fight against corruption in Sarajevo and came after the task of the leaders of the Twenty-seven last June to evaluate the country's progress on its path to the EU.

Now the Twenty-seven once again take this recommendation into account and take the step "understanding that the measures detailed in the Commission's recommendation will be adopted, in order to strengthen the rule of law, the fight against corruption and organized crime, the migration management and fundamental rights", according to the conclusions of the Twenty-seven.

The Member States also underline the need for the authorities of the Balkan country to strengthen the rule of law and take decisive measures to strengthen the prevention and fight against corruption and organized crime. Specifically, they urge Bosnia to pass integrity amendments to the Law on the High Judiciary and Prosecution Service and bring its legislation on conflicts of interest in line with European standards.

"Europe complies", the Enlargement Commissioner, Oliver Varhelyi, has celebrated in a message on social networks insisting that this decision is a "milestone" in the Enlargement Policy. "The Council recommends granting the status of candidate to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The path of the EU is open," he pointed out, while stressing the expectations of Brussels to advance in the priority reforms to take steps on the European path.

The recognition of Bosnia comes after the steps of the EU to grant the status of candidate to Ukraine and Moldova, and point out the European perspective to Georgia, at the summit last June, and have several nods to the Balkan region as open accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, after years of blockade by the Member States.

EU leaders agreed at a June summit to give a signal to the region, in parallel with the decision to consider Ukraine and Moldova as future members of the Union. During that summit, the European leaders understood that it was necessary to unblock the issue of the Balkans and open negotiations with Albania and Macedonia, something that was formalized in July, or advance in the exemption of visas for Kosovo, which has been agreed a few years ago. weeks. All within the framework of a more geostrategic rapprochement of the EU to a neighboring region, given the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and in an attempt to give a new impetus to European integration.

In the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its European perspective is subject to an agenda of 14 political and democratic reforms set by the European Commission in 2019 and progress in the agreement between Bosnian parties to unblock the political paralysis in the country. The question of candidate status was then designed as an intermediate step for Sarajevo to look closer to the door of Europe and accelerate its reform agenda.