If the political elite in Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot form a government then how can it pilot this country into Europe, High Representative and EU Special Representative Valentin Inzko asked, addressing a group of BiH and EU political representatives in Sarajevo today.
“If politicians cannot form a government they will not meet even the basic aspirations of citizens,” he said.
The HR/EUSR was speaking at the start of a session of the “Parliament for Europe”, an EUSR initiative that brings BiH parliamentarians and government leaders together with their EU counterparts to discuss ways of speeding up the integration process.
He called for “a more resolute, creative, constructive and mature approach by party leaders with more confidence in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Politicians have either played a part in bringing progress to a halt – or have failed to play a constructive role.
While there has been quarreling among leaders, “there is no such dissension among the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina – they have consistently made it clear that they want to become members in the European Union,” the HR/EUSR said.
He added that politicians “routinely express ambivalence” about EU integration and “the results of this ambivalence have been damaging. While Bosnia and Herzegovina is still trying to resolve basic strategic and political uncertainties, the rest of the region is taking decisive steps towards the European Union.”
The HR/EUSR said politics as usual in Bosnia and Herzegovina “would mean failure as usual.” Instead, he concluded, “we need a serious, constructive, realistic, and determined approach that is informed not by cynicism but by an honest desire to help the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina out of the predicament in which they have been placed by years of political division.”
He said “such an approach is not only necessary: it is possible.”
Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle addressed Parliament for Europe via a video message, which is available at www.reci.ba. “Bosnia and Herzegovina is at the heart of the Western Balkans and of Europe. It has been at the center of our political attention and a focus of our enlargement perspective. But it is up to you as elected representatives to deliver on necessary reforms,“ Commissioner Füle said.
The full text of the HR/EUSR’s speech can be accessed at www.ohr.int and www.eusrbih.eu
