At a conference in Berlin on 5th November, the foreign ministers of Germany and the United Kingdom, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Philip Hammond, put forward a proposal to re-energise BiH’s EU integration, building on the EU-facilitated Compact for Growth and Jobs.
Under the plan, Bosnia’s new government – assuming a BiH-level government can be formed without undue delay – would make a written commitment to carry out economic and institutional reforms in two stages:
• First, to institutional reforms at all levels of the State, designed to make it more functional and able to work effectively with the EU; and,
• Secondly to agree with the EU a roadmap for a broader reform agenda to advance Bosnia and Herzegovina on its EU accession path, including implementation of the Copenhagen political and economic criteria.
Once the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina have signed up, EU Member States would be encouraged by Germany and the UK to bring the long-delayed Stabilisation and Association Agreement into full force. Concrete steps should then be taken to deliver on the roadmap, improving the functionality and efficiency of government and implementing economic reforms. Once that is under way, the foreign ministers of Germany and the United Kingdom would support the submission of an application for EU membership. And once solid progress on delivering that agenda is made, then they would support the granting of candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The reforms that the foreign ministers are proposing are closely linked to the Compact for Growth and Jobs that was published earlier this year.
In this way, BiH will have the possibility to catch up with other countries in the region, who have been moving further and faster towards the EU. It would unlock new opportunities for trade, assistance and regional co-operation and bring huge, long-term benefits for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economy, its infrastructure, its public services and, most importantly, its people.
Member States had an initial discussion on the proposals in the Foreign Affairs Council on 17 November and work is now ongoing to develop the way forward.
