In Madrid today, High Representative and EU Special Representative Valentin Inzko participated in a meeting of EU Political Directors aimed at supporting the renewed efforts of the EU and the international community to break the political deadlock in Bosnia and Herzegovina and get the country back on the road to full Euro-Atlantic integration.

At the meeting of EU political directors the HR/EUSR gave a frank analysis of the progress and setbacks experienced by Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last three years. Although some positive steps have been taken – notably the rapid and effective measures to fulfill requirements for visa-free travel, which were implemented in a matter of months after years of delay because of political obstruction – the HR/EUSR warned that the absence of political consensus had meant that not a single major reform that would make BiH a more functional state had been enacted or implemented in the last three years.

The HR/EUSR emphasized that if Bosnia and Herzegovina can make further progress with its NATO membership application this would serve as an additional and important stabilizing factor, though he noted that progress depends very much on the BiH political leadership adopting a positive and practical approach.