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SARAJEVO, February 19 (FENA) - Bulgarian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Avgustina Tzvetkova said that it is now time for political leaders and citizens of Western Balkan countries to accelerate the EU integration process, pointing out that this process is based on the achieved results so that any country that manages to accelerate its work on EU integration, can undoubtedly fulfill its goal.
Ambassador Tzvetkova took part in the first panel of the roundtable "BiH in the EU Enlargement Process - Response to Perspective", which was organized in Sarajevo today by the Pan-European Union of BiH in cooperation with the Joint Committee on European Integration of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.
Bulgarian Ambassador recalled the slogan of the Bulgarian EU Presidency "United We Stand Strong", which reflects the very essence of the EU, as well as the essence of the EU path of the Western Balkan countries.
She stressed that Bulgaria has the opportunity to turn the focus once again on Western Balkan countries and thanked the EU partners for making it possible.
Among other, she noted that the Summit EU - Western Balkans will be held in May in Sofia, whose focus will be on enhancing efforts in the EU integration process, while the results will depend on the individual efforts of the countries.
Head of the EU Delegation to BiH and EU Special Representative Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark reminded of the recently announced EU Strategy for Western Balkans, which will be used as a basis for the forthcoming activities of all six countries in terms of EU integration.
“The Strategy puts emphasis on the areas such as regional cooperation, including the reconciliation component, and it is also very clear that all outstanding border issues need to be addressed,” he said.
Since the EU Strategy for Western Balkans does not have specified timelines for meeting the conditions on the path to EU membership, Wigemark has called on all the political actors in BiH to avoid mentioning any deadlines, whether concerning a candidate status or some other activity.
"Mentioning of such deadlines creates certain expectations, and when these deadlines are not fulfilled, there is disappointment," he emphasized.
He noted that EU President Jean-Claude Juncker, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, and EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Han, will visit BiH at the end of the month to point out three important things and to send important messages.
Wigemark added that the senior EU officials will welcome the completion of the responses to the European Commission's Questionnaire as well as significant reform measures that were implemented last year.
“Their second message is that these activities should be continued, because although this year is an election year, there is no excuse for any kind of lagging behind. The third message is that it is necessary to intensify regional cooperation,” said the Head of the EU Delegation.
He underlined that the coming months would be crucial for all Western Balkan countries, especially for BiH, because it is an election year. In that sense, he added, it is necessary to continue working on the European integration process.
(FENA) S. R.
