Catherine Ashton, High Representatives of the European Union (EU) Foreign Policy and Security and Vice President of the European Commission visited Bosnia and Herzegovina on 17-18 February where she met with political leaders and civil society representatives as well as with representatives of EU missions.

Following her meeting with the Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Nikola Špirić, she stated for the media that she came to Sarajevo with three simple and clear messages: “This is the one country with different communities, the future of this great country is in the European Union and the EU is ready to help Bosnia and Herzegovina to achieve this ambition.”

Ms Ashton added that her visit to the Western Balkans at the beginning of her mandate is symbolic as she wanted to demonstrate how important this region is, both to her personally and to the EU. According to her, she had “very open, clear and direct talks” with BiH officials in Sarajevo.

Ashton estimated that BiH has made progress in meeting conditions of the Visa Liberalisaton Road Map and expressed her hope that the European future will be a large part of the campaign in the election year.  “I hope that people from business and agriculture will see that in the EU they can make economic progress, the students will see more opportunities for education and employment, and politicians will see great potential in this economic superpower, that means more opportunities for trade and commercial activities” added Ashton.

Her mandate will last for five years and she announced that she’ll remain a friend of BiH for the entire time. 

Ashton reminded that the road to the EU membership is a long process with many significant changes. As regards the constitutional reform, Ashton stressed that it is necessary for further integration process in the EU, and that the implementation of the HRC decision in the Sejdic-Finci case is an opportunity for substantial changes of the Constitution.

During her visit to Sarajevo, Ms Ashton also met with BiH Presidency Members Haris Silajdzic and Nebojsa Radmanovic, Entity Prime Ministers Mustafa Mujezinovic and Milorad Dodik as well as with representatives of EUFOR and EUPM missions in BiH. As a central part of her visit, Ms Ashton talked to students and citizens advocating BiH’s integration into the European Union.

Ashton: Bosna i Hercegovina je jedna zemlja, a njena budućnost je u Evropskoj uniji