Head of the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, H.E. Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas chaired a press conference on Thursday June 05, 2008, at the end of two-day visit of Mr. Michael Leigh, General Director of General Directorate of the European Commission for Enlargement. Ambassador Kourkoulas briefly informed media representatives about Mr. Leigh’s meetings with Chairman of the BiH Presidency Mr. Haris Silajdžić, Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Mr. Nikola Špirić, and High Representative/European Union Special Representative, Ambassador Miroslav Lajcak.
During the press conference, Mr. Leigh underlined that two main reasons of his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina were to review progress of BiH along its path to EU membership and to handover the Road Map for Visa liberalisation for BiH citizens. Referring to the pending signature of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), which would take place on 16 June 2008 in Luxembourg, Mr. Leigh emphasized that it was important for BiH authorities to draw up an action plan for implementing the obligations under the agreement. The success of the country in carrying out its obligations under the SAA would be a crucial element in determining the speed by which it progresses towards the EU membership, added Mr. Leigh.
Referring to the Road Map on visa liberalisation, handed over to BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Sven Alkalaj, Mr. Leigh explained that this document set out the steps which were necessary to be taken in order to lift visa requirements for BiH citizens to visit EU. Mentioning the areas covered by this Road Map, Mr. Leigh announced a series of expert meetings that would monitor the progress in this area. “I hope very much that these concrete three steps: the signature of the SAA, entry into force of the Interim Agreement on 1 July, 2008, and the start of progress on the visa Road Map will help to make the prospect of EU membership for BiH more visible and tangible for its population.”, said Mr. Leigh and added that now it was up to BiH authorities to deliver on implementation and enforcement of these different instruments. He concluded his address by expressing his hope that in November the European Commission would be able to report on considerable progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms to all these different instruments.
Mr. Leigh also participated at the European Union Police Mission’s conference on security sector reform. He used the opportunity to emphasise that BiH was entering the moment of implementation of police reform, therefore „full commitment of local authorities to implementation of police reforms was extremely important.“, said Mr. Leigh.
As a part of further development of civil society, Delegation of European Commission to Bosnia and Herzegovina organised a meeting for Mr. Michael Leigh and representatives of academia and NGO’s active in civil society development. At this occasion Mr. Leigh highlighted that three main tools were used in cooperation with civil society: organisation of visit by civil society representatives from the region to Brussels to become more familiar with EU institutions and member states, promotion of partnership between NGOs and support to NGOs through the projects implemented by the Delegations. ”We wish to strengthen democracy in Bosnia and Herzegovina by increasing cooperation with civil society.”, said Mr. Leigh.
