The coming months are a crucial period for meeting a number of outstanding obligations towards the European Union, so that that Bosnia and Herzegovina can have the Schengen visa regime lifted for its citizens in the course of next year, European Union Special Representative Valentin Inzko said in a meeting with the Director of the Directorate for European Integration Nevenka Savic in Sarajevo today.

The meeting was an opportunity to review the priorities and challenges that Bosnia and Herzegovina faces in the context of European integration in light of the recent Progress Report of the European Commission.

Inzko regretted the limited progress achieved as part of the EU integration process in the past months. “Only five laws stemming from the European Partnership and Visa Liberalization Road map have been adopted since mid-June”, he said. “At the same time, we have seen little or no progress in fulfilling EU Partnership and SAA requirements with respect to the BiH Ombudsmen Law, banking supervision, adoption of the State Law on obligations, State Aid Law, Law on Agency for Development of Information Society, Law on Gas and other legislation.”

Inzko and Savic agreed that a broader consensus of BiH political parties and better coordination between all actors dealing with EU issues was needed to speed up EU integration processes in the country. “The Directorate of European Union integration is well-prepared to address the challenges of EU integration, but its activities depend to a large extent on the willingness of political actors and all institutions involved in the EU integration process to work together in adopting and implementing EU reforms”, Savic said. She added that visa liberalization for citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina would be a significant motivating factor and strong incentive for the EU integration process in general.