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SARAJEVO, April 28 (FENA) - Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Johann Sattler, today welcomed the political maturity of domestic leaders and thanked the BiH Presidency Chairman and members who initiated the formation of a political task force in response to meeting the 14 priorities of the European Commission Opinion very much needed by the state.
The Presidency, in agreement with representatives from the European Union, has decided to form a political task force tha would be in charge of directing the processes within BiH to move forward and to reach as broad a consensus as possible on BiH's path to the EU.
This group will consist of the Chairman and members of the BiH Presidency, the Chair and two deputy chairpersons of the Council of Ministers of BiH, and the chairman and two deputies of the House of Representatives and the chairman and two deputies of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.
As Sattler stressed, membership in the European Union is what the citizens of BiH want, and there is broader public approval at around 75 percent, which is also the country's most important foreign policy goal.
The task force was formed ahead of the European Union-Western Balkans summit scheduled for May 6 in Zagreb in an online format, an opportunity, Sattler says, for local leaders not to go unprepared to the meeting.
"We welcomed this initiative because a mechanism has been put in place that should contribute to starting the process internally on the European path, but also to develop an Action Plan for the implementation of measures in the next two and a half years, as this mandate should be one in which a real step on the road to the European Union should be taken," he added.
He stressed that this progress means progress in terms of the rule of law, jurisdiction, democracy, human rights, in terms of public administration reform, but also socio-economic reforms, which are issues for which citizens expect solutions from the authorities.
He is pleased to see the agreement and the decision of the Presidency and the Council of Ministers of BiH to be in charge with initiating this process, since a political working group meeting in Sarajevo is scheduled for May 4, before the summit in Zagreb, and all this is coming at the right time for BiH to bring something positive to this online summit.
He recalled that in March, in the time of the pandemic crisis, the European Union gave the green light on the road to the European Union to North Macedonia and Albania, which means that there is a possibility for BiH as well because the EU door is still open for BiH.
"The status quo over the Covid-19 pandemic is nearing its end, and this is a real opportunity to finally prioritize unity over divisions for the benefit of this country," Sattler concluded.
Today's meeting of the Presidency members, Ambassador of the Quint and the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH also covered the topics of the response to the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic in BiH and coordination between different levels of government, especially in the context of mitigation of the consequences.
(FENA) S. R.
