“We hope that our country will ratify the Lisbon Agreement before the end of this year and that implementation will begin in January next year,” Czech Republic Ambassador in BiH Tomás Szunyog told www.reci.ba. Ambassador Szunyog added that, sinceSlovakia and the Czech Republic are the legal successors of Czechoslovakia, “there is a certain logic” in Slovakia’s request to obtain the same opt-outs from the Agreement that have been obtained by the Czech Republic.

Commenting on the two meetings of BiH leaders with the representatives of the international community in Butmir, Ambassador Szunyog said he hopes for the continuation of the process and that, like Carl Bildt and James Steinberg, the main negotiators, he has seen encouraging signs of progress in Butmir.

Noting that the Czech Republic’s integration in the EU took a considerable period of time – the Czech Republic applied for membership in January 1996 and became a member in May 2004 – he underlined that the process requires the enactment of a huge range of new legislation and the implementation of major institutional reforms. Ambassador Szunyog said the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement last year represented a major step forward for BiH, but he stressed that the process now requires a sustained effort and will require properly-coordinated and functional state institutions that can negotiate with the EU and implement the steps that have been agreed.

Ambassador Szunyog called on the people of BiH “to take their destiny into their own hands and take action on their own account; to be proactive and make an impact on their own lives and the life of the country as a whole.” He said it was “important to understand that neither the state nor the government should do everything on its own. After all, we are the masters or our own lives. Communication is key and a greater level of activism among citizens is indispensable.”

The whole interview with Ambassador Szunyog can be accessed at www.reci.ba.