Responding to the statement of the BiH Presidency following publication of the Conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council on 15 December, Charge d’affaires of the EU Delegation Dr Renzo Daviddi said:

“We welcome the statement by the BiH Presidency in response to the Conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council outlining a renewed approach towards BiH, and we welcome the commitment that the BiH Presidency has announced to start preparing and agreeing on a written commitment to reinvigorate the EU integration process of BiH.

“The European Union expects all parties and institutions of this country to show both strong resolve and the responsibility necessary, so that BiH can make decisive steps forward on its EU accession path for the sake of a better future for all its people. The success and speed of this approach will depend entirely on the political and institutional leadership of the country.  

“The Council Conclusions of today stipulate that the BiH Presidency should agree on an irrevocable written commitment, political party leaders should sign it and the BiH Parliament should endorse it. We would like to underline that for this commitment to be judged as ‘irrevocable’ a very high degree of consensus when it comes to its approval is required in the BiH Parliament and amongst political party leaders.  

“The European Union will remain in close consultation with the BiH authorities as the text of the document is developed; it will need to contain, as its overall objective, the commitment to establish functionality and efficiency at all levels of government and to allow BiH to prepare itself for future EU membership. A commitment to work out an initial agenda for reform, including the Compact for Growth, Rule of Law, good governance and other functionality issues such as the coordination mechanism is required. This reform agenda should be developed and implemented with civil society.  The commitment to make progress, at a later stage, on reforms in order to enhance functionality and effectiveness of the different levels of governance is required as well.

“Once this commitment is delivered and judged satisfactory, the EU will decide on the entry into force of the SAA. Once governments at all relevant levels have achieved meaningful progress on the agenda for reforms, a membership application by BiH will be considered by the EU.”