prijava
SARAJEVO, January 23 (FENA) - The European Movement in BiH hopes that Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with Northern Macedonia and Albania, could receive candidacy status and open the first accession chapters during Croatia's presidency over the EU.
According to Predrag Praštalo, President of the European Movement in BiH, his organization has been pointing out the importance of Croatia's EU presidency for more than a year.
"We were pleased to attend the presentation of the Croatian Presidency in the European Union building in Sarajevo, where Ambassadors Ivan Sabolić and Johann Sattler, as well as Director of the EU Integration Directorate Edin Dilberović, talked about what the European Movement in BiH had said before and during the BiH elections in 2018, and its first EU presidency," said Praštalo.
He added that the Croatian presidency will be primarily characterized by Brexit and addressing pressing issues such as the consolidation and "restart" of the EU itself, as well as border security, migrant crisis, and financial stability.
"However, we are convinced that the 'Balkan Summit' in Zagreb in May will be a very significant event for other Western Balkan countries and the EU itself. Perhaps it will be as significant as the Thessaloniki process, when, during the Greek Presidency, the most significant step in the direction was made regarding the integration of the region into the EU," he said.
Praštalo also said he hoped that Croatia would pressure Kosovo to abolish customs duties for Serbia and BiH, give Kosovo a visa-free regime, and continue the peace process and dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, which is another major challenge for Croatia and the EU.
"We are faced with a very difficult, demanding and very important presidency of Croatia which could significantly continue and accelerate the process of integration of the region into the EU. Failure to do so could lead to a saturation of the accession process of the countries of the region and the EU itself, which would certainly lead to the strengthening of the interests of other entities, for the only remaining area of Europe outside the EU. It is precisely because of all of the above that we hope and wish for and expect a successful, good 'probalkan' Presidency of Croatia," said Praštalo.
He warned that all of this requires political will on all sides, and he hopes that domestic politicians, along with their Croatian counterparts, will make a constructive contribution to the relaxation of relations between the two countries and the first Croatian presidency of the European Union.
(FENA) L. N.
